EditKazakhstan protests Ukraine’s drone attack on Caspian pipeline terminal in Novorossiysk
The attack has strained bilateral ties and raised alarms about disruptions to a key artery for global oil supplies
Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a sharp rebuke on Saturday against Ukraine for a drone strike on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium’s (CPC) marine terminal in Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, marking the third such incident and prompting Astana to divert its oil exports to alternative routes.
According to military bloggers, Ukrainian naval drones have completely disabled the mooring device of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) Marine Terminal in Novorossiysk, halting oil shipments.
CPC, which handles more than 1% of global oil, said on Saturday it halted operations after a mooring at Russia’s Black Sea terminal was significantly damaged by a Ukrainian naval drone attack. Nearly 95 % of Kazakhstan’s almost 80 million tons of annual oil exports still flow to Europe via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) to Novorossiysk – a route that has remained untouched by Western sanctions for four years because it carries predominantly Kazakh, not Russian, oil.
The attack, which Ukrainian sources claimed targeted Russia’s “shadow fleet,” has strained bilateral ties and raised alarms about disruptions to a key artery for global oil supplies.
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In a formal statement, ministry spokesperson Aibek Smadiyarov decried the strike as a “deliberate attack on the critical infrastructure of the international Caspian Pipeline Consortium in the waters of the Port of Novorossiysk.” He emphasized that it constitutes “the third act of aggression against an exclusively civilian facility whose operation is safeguarded by norms of international law.”
Kazakhstan underscores its role as a “responsible participant of the global energy market” committed to “maintaining the stability and uninterrupted supply of energy resources.”
The consortium, a 1,510-km pipeline stretching from Kazakhstan’s Tengiz field to Novorossiysk, handles around 1.7% of global seaborne oil trade – equivalent to 1.5–1.7 million barrels per day.
Ukraine has been attacking Russian oil refineries for months, using long-range aerial drones to strike far behind the front lines of Moscow’s full-scale war against Ukraine. The strikes on the tankers represent a different kind of attack.
The nighttime assault on 29 November involved Ukrainian unmanned surface vessels (USVs), which struck one of the terminal’s three single-point moorings (SPMs), rendering it “heavily damaged” and “beyond repair” for the foreseeable future, according to CPC operator Transneft.
No casualties were reported, and swift valve closures prevented an oil spill into the Black Sea.
However, loading operations at the terminal – vital for Kazakh exports – have been halted indefinitely, forcing Astana to activate contingency plans for rerouting via Russian pipelines like the Druzhba or emerging Middle Corridor routes through Azerbaijan and Georgia.
Kazakhstan’s Energy Ministry warned that the disruption threatens “global energy security,” as the CPC is jointly owned by Kazakhstan (via KazMunayGas, 20.6%), Russia (Transneft, 24%), Chevron (15%), ExxonMobil (7.5%), and other shareholders including Lukoil and Rosneft.
Last year, the terminal facilitated over 4 million tons of Kazakh oil exports alone.
Analysts note that while the strike minimally impacts Russian exports (which favor Baltic ports like Primorsk), it disproportionately affects Western majors like Chevron, whose Tengizchevroil project is a primary CPC feeder.
Smadiyarov framed the incident as “an action harming the bilateral relations of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Ukraine,” calling on Kyiv to “take effective measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.”
Ukraine has not officially commented on the protest, but its Security Service (SBU) previously claimed responsibility for earlier CPC strikes in July and October 2025, justifying them as hits on Russian military logistics amid the ongoing war.
Kyiv often portrays the terminal as enabling Moscow’s evasion of Western sanctions on oil exports, though the CPC’s multinational structure complicates such narratives.
The Kazakh statement echoes prior diplomatic friction: Astana issued similar protests after the July attack, which briefly suspended operations, and has since accelerated diversification efforts, including a $4 billion Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (Middle Corridor) to bypass Russian transit amid geopolitical tensions.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry welcomed the Kazakh stance, with spokesperson Maria Zakharova calling it a “timely signal” against “terrorist acts” in the Black Sea.
Western responses have been muted, though the U.S. State Department reiterated support for Ukraine’s “right to self-defense” without addressing the CPC specifically.
As repairs—estimated at weeks to months—get underway, the incident underscores the war’s spillover risks to neutral energy players like Kazakhstan, which has balanced ties with Moscow and Kyiv while prioritizing export stability.
The Neftohim Burgas refinery (operated by Lukoil Neftohim Burgas AD) has long relied heavily on crude oil delivered via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) by ships from the port of Novorossiysk. Bulgaria has not reacted following the attack.
Caption: The CPC pipeline (in black), marketnews.com
Updated: November 30, 2025 - 10:10
