Drones attacked two tankers at the CPC terminal near Novorossiysk.

Ukrainian drones attacked the tankers "Asia" and "Nissos Ios" during the loading of oil at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal near Novorossiysk.

According to the press service of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), Ukrainian drones today attacked two tankers, one of which is flying the flag of Liberia, and the other – the flag of the Marshall Islands.

"During loading operations at the offshore berthing facilities VPU-1 and VPU-3, two marine tankers "Asia", oil from the company "Tengizchevroil" ("Chevron") and "Nissos Ios", oil from the companies Kashagan B.V. and Maten (JSC NC "KazMunayGas"), were subjected to a targeted terrorist attack using unmanned aerial vehicles," the company reported on its Telegram channel.

International crews are on board the tankers. As a result of the drone attack on the tanker "Asia", a fire broke out. Oil loading has been halted. There are no casualties or injuries among CPC employees or contractors. No oil spill has occurred. Medical assistance was not requested by the crew members. The tankers have maintained buoyancy, the report stated.

"We emphasize that this is already the fifth act of direct aggression against a purely civilian object of the CPC, which is under the protection of international law," the press service emphasized.

Recall that the CPC is an international oil transportation project involving Russia, Kazakhstan, and leading extraction companies, created for the construction and operation of a main pipeline over 1511 kilometers long. The system mainly receives oil from the fields of Western Kazakhstan, as well as raw materials from Russian producers. Oil is transported to the Marine terminal in the village of Yuzhnaya Ozerievka, where it is loaded onto tankers for shipment to global markets, according to the company's website.

If the CPC is halted, Kazakhstan can supply only about four million tons of oil per year to Europe through Azerbaijan and Georgia, which is significantly less than through Novorossiysk (67 million tons per year), and the construction of a new pipeline across the Caspian Sea requires coordination with other coastal states, including Russia, analysts noted in 2022.