Recent drone attacks have forced the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) to repeatedly suspend crude oil loadings at its Black Sea export terminal near Novorossiysk. On July 20, the tanker NELSA was struck by an unmanned aerial vehicle while loading at Single Point Mooring 1 (SPM-1). The drone hit the vessel's starboard aft section, causing a fire on deck and in compartments, which emergency crews extinguished within hours. The tanker remained afloat, and no oil spill or ignition of crude in the cargo tanks was reported. The 22-member international crew was evacuated, with only the captain and chief officer remaining on board. This incident followed an earlier attack on July 19, which also temporarily halted operations after two civilian tankers, ASIA and NISSOS IOS, were targeted.
The CPC pipeline is a crucial artery, transporting over two-thirds of Kazakhstan's crude exports, along with oil from Russian fields in the Caspian region, to global markets. It accounts for approximately 1% of the global oil supply, primarily carrying crude from Kazakhstan’s Tengiz, Kashagan, and Karachaganak fields. Shareholders in the CPC, one of the world's largest internationally owned crude export routes, include major energy companies like Chevron, ExxonMobil, KazMunayGas, Lukoil, Rosneft, Shell, and Eni. Kazakhstan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Energy have condemned these incidents as terrorist attacks on civilian maritime infrastructure and the country's economic interests.
These disruptions are the latest in a series of attacks on CPC operations since the start of the war, including previous incidents in January and November 2025 that temporarily reduced crude shipments. While operations have generally been restored within days after prior interruptions, no specific timetable has been announced for resuming loadings following the July 20 strike. The repeated suspensions leave Kazakhstan's main oil export route vulnerable to further disruptions. In December 2025, Kazakhstan rerouted about 300,000 tonnes of oil (approximately 0.4% of CPC's 2025 throughput) through alternative systems like Atyrau-Samara, China, and the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan corridor, highlighting the potential need for diversification amidst ongoing threats.
