Kazakhstan is being forced to cease piping crude oil to its principal export terminal on Russia's Black Sea coast, as a series of attacks on tankers has jeopardized the landlocked Central Asian nation's exports. The Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal, situated close to the Russian port of Novorossiysk, was expected to stop accepting piped supplies because tanker companies are now unwilling to dispatch their vessels to the facility. The halt was scheduled to commence on Tuesday, although it remains unclear if operations have already ceased.
This disruption follows a prior incident where a key Kazakh oil-export terminal on the Black Sea again suspended loadings after a drone strike. The CPC terminal had briefly resumed operations on Sunday evening after drones targeted two vessels loading crude from the facility's moorings. However, on Monday morning, another crude tanker, the Nelsa, was struck by a drone while loading at the terminal's mooring one, according to the consortium.
The repeated attacks have led to a reduction in Kazakhstan's crude oil production. The country's energy ministry announced this week that oil firms adjusted their daily output, resulting in a temporary drop in production volumes. Officials described this as a "purely technical" decision to prevent storage tanks from overflowing after CPC restricted incoming oil shipments. Industry sources indicated that oil reservoirs at the terminal had reached capacity. CPC, a joint venture that includes Chevron and ExxonMobil, accounts for approximately 80% of Kazakhstan's oil exports through its 1,510-kilometer pipeline connecting Caspian Sea deposits to Novorossiysk.
