Caspian pipeline Consortium (CPC) announced on February 17 that the Kropotkinskaya pumping station in Russia had been attacked by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
The terrorist attack was carried out with 7 drones equipped with additional explosives and ammunition, the CPC said.
The CPC determined that there were no injuries to the staff at the pumping station and the response team prevented the possibility of an oil spill.
According to Reuters, an unnamed official of Ukraine's security agency SBU said that Kiev attacked the pumping station and Ilsky refinery near the Kropotkinskaya pumping station with drones. There were at least 20 explosions in the vicinity of the refinery.
Ukrainian drones have repeatedly targeted Russian energy infrastructure in recent months, including the Krasnodar region, but the February 17 attack was the first to target facilities involving major Western oil companies.
Caspian pipeline Consortium, the joint venture with the largest shareholder being Russia with a 24% stake, operates a pipeline running from the Caspi coast in northwestern Kazakhstan to the port of Novorossiysk on Russia's Black Sea coast and carries 80% of Kazakhstan's crude oil exports.
Among CPC's shareholders outside Russia (through Transneft) are Kazakhstan (through KazMunayGas), Chevron, Lukoil, ExxonMobil, a joint venture between Rosneft and Shell.
The Kropotkinskaya pumping station in the Kavkazsky district of Kuban is the largest CPC station in Russia.
The CPC said that after the attack, Kropotkinskaya had stopped operations and that the transportation of crude oil through the Tengiz - Novorossiysk pipeline system was being maintained at reduced flow levels, ignoring the pumping station being attacked.
The Tengiz - Novorossiysk pipeline is 1,511 km long, transporting more than two-thirds of Kazakhstan's oil exports and crude from Russian oil fields.
Chevron has just started oil production at an expansion project in Tengiz - Kazakhstan's largest oil field. This project will help increase crude oil output by 260,000 barrels per day.
Kazakhstan's oil exports through Russian infrastructure and through Russian territory are not subject to Western sanctions on Russian oil exports.
Kazakhstan's energy minister affirmed that Kazakhstan's oil transportation via the CPC was not affected after the drone attack on the CPC's Kropotkinskaya pumping station in Kuban.
The drone attack comes as the US and Russia prepare to hold talks in Saudi Arabia on February 18 to discuss an end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
