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Drone strike forces CPC crude exports to pause at Black Sea terminal
The CPC said the tanker NELSA was loading at SPM-1 when the drone hit, and exports were suspended again after a similar disruption on Sunday.
A drone strike hit a tanker loading crude oil at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium’s Black Sea export terminal, prompting the company to suspend crude exports again, according to OilPrice citing regional media reports.
OilPrice reported that the CPC said the tanker NELSA was loading at Single Point Mooring 1 when the drone struck the vessel’s starboard aft section, igniting a fire on deck and in compartments between the accommodation block and engine room.
Emergency crews extinguished the fire within hours, the tanker remained afloat, and no oil spill was reported. OilPrice added that as of the time of writing there were no official statements on when loadings would resume.
OilPrice also noted that the earlier Sunday attack forced CPC to halt crude loadings before operations resumed later that evening. The CPC said tankers loading crude owned by Kazakhstan and U.S. shippers were targeted, and Kazakhstan’s energy and foreign affairs ministries condemned both incidents.
The 1,511-kilometer CPC pipeline carries more than two-thirds of Kazakhstan’s crude exports to the Black Sea export terminal near Novorossiysk, with shareholders including Chevron and Exxon, OilPrice reported.
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