On July 19 (Moscow time), according to TASS news agency, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) said that the oil port of this consortium on the Black Sea coast was attacked by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) while two oil tankers were loading cargo, forcing all export activities to be temporarily suspended.
According to CPC, the incident occurred at 2 single mooring points (SPM) No. 1 and No. 3 when the ship Asia was receiving oil from the Tengizchevroil joint venture operated by Chevron, while the ship Nissos Ios was loading oil from the Kashagan B.V. and Maten projects of the Kazakhstan National Oil Company (KazMunayGas).
The joint venture said the 2 ships became targets of a targeted UAV attack.
Immediately after the incident, the CPC decided to stop all oil pumping operations to assess damage and ensure safety.
CPC personnel and contractor forces have no casualties. No oil spill occurred. No crew members need medical assistance. The two ships are still safely surfaced and damage assessment is underway," CPC's announcement stated.
According to TASS, the ship Asia is flying the flag of Liberia, and the ship Nissos Ios is flying the flag of the Marshall Islands. Both have an international crew.
CPC said the attack caused a fire on the Asia ship, but the fire was quickly controlled and extinguished by the joint venture's emergency response forces.
The consortium emphasized that this is the fifth time CPC's civilian infrastructure has become a target of attack. According to the CPC, the oil port and pipeline system of the consortium are civil works protected by international law.
The CPC pipeline is about 1,500km long, considered the largest oil transport route from the Caspian Sea region to the world market. This route connects oil fields in western Kazakhstan with an export port on the Russian Black Sea coast, where crude oil is pumped directly into oil tankers through an offshore anchoring system.
CPC's shareholder structure includes many large energy corporations such as Transneft (Russia), KazMunayGas (Kazakhstan), Chevron, ExxonMobil, Lukoil, and joint ventures of Rosneft and Shell.
Currently, the CPC has not announced the extent of damage to infrastructure as well as the time to restore oil exports.
