Oil tanker damaged by drone strikes near CPC terminal in Black Sea

MOSCOW, July 17. /TASS/. An oil tanker was damaged by two drone strikes and caught fire as it approached the marine terminal of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) near Novorossiysk, with the fire extinguished by the crew, the CPC’s press service reported.

Bloomberg said earlier, citing sources, that the oil tanker Nordic Zenith, which was en route to the CPC’s marine terminal for loading, caught fire following an attack.

"We can confirm that the tanker in question was damaged by two UAVs while approaching the CPC terminal this morning. It was scheduled to begin loading at around 7:00 a.m. Moscow time (4:00 a.m. GMT - TASS). A fire broke out on board but was extinguished by the crew. The tanker’s captain issued a distress signal. Nearby CPC vessels evacuated 13 crew members, while nine others refused evacuation and remained on board. The tanker has been removed from the loading schedule and is unfit for mooring and loading operations at the CPC terminal," the company said.

It also noted that the tanker charterers arranging for loading at the CPC terminal are most often foreign companies.

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium is the largest route for transporting oil from the Caspian region to global markets. The 1,511 km long main pipeline connects oil fields in Western Kazakhstan with Russia’s Black Sea coast where oil is loaded onto tankers via the CPC’s marine terminal. Among CPC shareholders are Russia (via Transneft), Kazakhstan (via KazMunayGas), structures of Chevron, Lukoil, ExxonMobil, a joint venture of Rosneft and Shell.