Drone hits oil tanker in Novorossiysk
The Greek-operated Skyros tanker was attacked by a drone after loading Russian oil at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal near Novorossiysk. According to Bloomberg, there were no injuries or environmental damage in the incident.
A drone attacked a tanker carrying oil in Novorossiysk.
According to Bloomberg on August 17, the Greek-owned oil tanker Skyros was attacked by a drone in the Black Sea near Novorossiysk.
According to reports, the tanker was loading oil produced in Russia at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal near Novorossiysk before the attack. The attack occurred on August 16.
Bloomberg considered the incident as further evidence that Russia's war against Ukraine is affecting oil transportation routes. According to the agency, the oil supplied to the world market through the CPC terminal accounts for about 2 percent of global supply.
The CPC terminal is mainly used to load oil produced in Kazakhstan and intended for export. However, the source said that the tanker "Skyros" that was attacked by drones was loaded with raw materials extracted in Russia. "Skyros" is capable of transporting up to 1 million barrels of oil at a time. According to Bloomberg estimates, Russian oil accounts for 5-10 percent of the total volume of oil exported through the KJC terminal.
The incident with the tanker "Skyros" is not the first drone attack recorded in the area of the KJC terminal in the past three weeks. In July, the terminal was hit by drones several times, which led to disruptions in its operations. Since the KJC is important for the supply of Kazakh oil to the world market, problems in the operation of the terminal have also led to a reduction in oil production at some fields in Kazakhstan.
In late July, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) considered temporarily suspending the terminal to reduce security risks and prevent environmental damage from a potential oil spill. However, the CPC ultimately decided to continue operations.
The Greek company operating the tanker said no crew members were injured in the attack on the Skyros. There was no oil spill or environmental damage. The company did not provide further details of the incident.
The incident came days after the United States reportedly asked Ukraine not to attack CPC infrastructure. The Financial Times reported on August 12, citing a source, that U.S. Vice President Jay Dee Vance had asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to refrain from attacking CPC infrastructure and tankers entering the port of Novorossiysk. According to the publication, Kiev agreed not to attack the infrastructure of the KPC and ships registered outside of Russia. However, it was stated that such ships were not subject to Ukrainian sanctions and were not carrying Russian cargo. The tanker "Skyros", according to Bloomberg, was loading Russian oil before the attack.