ALMATY – Kazakh Energy Ministry is closely monitoring operations at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) after another drone strike targeted an oil tanker loading Kazakh crude at the consortium’s Black Sea marine terminal overnight on July 20, reported the Kazinform news agency.
The attack came after CPC resumed loading operations following an earlier drone strike on two civilian tankers at the terminal on July 19. According to CPC, the tanker NELSA was loading oil at Single Point Mooring (SPM)-1 when it was struck by an unmanned aerial vehicle.
The drone hit the vessel’s starboard stern, triggering a fire on deck and in several compartments. The fire was extinguished within several hours by the vessel’s loading crew and CPC emergency response teams. CPC tugboats evacuated the ship’s 22-member multinational crew, while the captain and chief officer remained on board.
The tanker remained afloat. Oil loading operations have been suspended while authorities assess the vessel’s condition. No oil spill or ignition of crude in the cargo tanks was reported. In a statement, the Kazakh Energy Ministry said it remains in constant contact with the CPC regarding the incident.
“According to available information, a UAV attacked the tanker NELSA while it was loading at the CPC marine terminal. The resulting fire was promptly extinguished. There were no casualties, and no oil spill occurred. An assessment of the vessel’s technical condition and the consequences of the incident is currently underway,” reads the ministry’s statement.
The consortium urged its shareholder countries to condemn the repeated attacks and work together to prevent further strikes on critical export infrastructure. “We expect the CPC participating states to condemn these attacks and, in strict accordance with international law, develop practical measures to stop attacks against infrastructure used to export hydrocarbons produced by international consortia in Kazakhstan,” reads the consortium’s statement.
The latest incident follows Kazakhstan’s earlier condemnation of drone attacks on July 17 and 19 targeting civilian vessels transporting oil through CPC infrastructure in the Black Sea. Both the Foreign Ministry and Energy Ministry described attacks on civilian energy infrastructure as unacceptable and warned that they threaten international energy trade and Kazakhstan’s economic interests.