The Caspian Pipeline Consortium's (CPC) marine terminal in Novorossiysk has suspended oil loadings after an attack by Ukrainian uncrewed surface vessels on the morning of 29 November.

Source: The Moscow Times, an independent Amsterdam-based news outlet

Details: The CPC reported that "as a result of the strike, the SPM-2 single point mooring unit has suffered serious damage, making its operation impossible".

Quote: "On instructions issued by the harbourmaster of Novorossiysk seaport, cargo and other operations have been halted and tankers have been moved outside CPC waters. No CPC or contractor staff have been injured."

More details: The company said that the attack took place at 04:06 Moscow time. At the moment of the explosion, the emergency protection system automatically shut off the relevant pipelines, which, on initial assessment, prevented oil from leaking into the Black Sea.

CPC noted that environmental monitoring is under way, seawater samples are being taken and the emergency oil spill response plan (LARN) is in force.

At the end of September, a drone strike damaged CPC's city office in Novorossiysk, and on 25 November, an administrative building at the marine terminal was hit.

Caspian Pipeline Consortium brings together major energy companies from Russia, the United States, Kazakhstan and several Western European states. It was set up in 1992 and transports oil from the Tengiz, Kashagan and Karachaganak fields.

The main pipeline, more than 1,500 km long, links fields in western Kazakhstan with the marine terminal in Novorossiysk and is one of the country's key export routes.

In 2024, the terminal's throughput was about 63 million tonnes of oil, with about 74% of that volume accounted for by foreign shippers including Tengizchevroil (Chevron), ExxonMobil, KazMunayGas, Eni and Shell.

Background:

• Units of Ukraine's defence forces carried out successful strikes on several key facilities belonging to Russia on the night of 28-29 November.
• In the city of Taganrog in Russia's Rostov Oblast, Ukrainian forces hit facilities at the Beriev Aircraft Company aviation repair plant, which is used to upgrade Tu-95 strategic bombers and A-50 airborne early warning aircraft.
• Earlier, two sanctioned tankers caught fire in the Black Sea off the coast of Türkiye as a result of external strikes.
• On 14 November, drones struck port and oil infrastructure in Russia's Novorossiysk, damaging an oil depot, a container terminal, shore facilities and one vessel.
• The Russian port of Novorossiysk resumed oil loadings on Sunday 16 November after a two-day halt caused by a Ukrainian missile and drone attack.
• Russian media have reported earlier that Primorsk port on the Baltic Sea, Russia's largest crude export terminal, has recorded a 3.7-fold fall in shipments last week, or 73%, to about 43,000 tonnes per day.

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