Kazakhstan pulled the plug on crude oil shipments through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium on July 21, cutting off a route that carries roughly 80% of the country’s oil exports. The trigger: a string of drone attacks on tankers loading Kazakh crude at the Russian Black Sea terminal in Novorossiysk.
What happened at Novorossiysk
Between July 17 and July 20, multiple drone strikes targeted tankers at the CPC terminal. At least two vessels, the Asia and the Nissos Ios, sustained damage in attacks on July 19. A third vessel, the Nelsa, was also reportedly struck during the same window.
Tanker operators started refusing to dock at the terminal. Kazakhstan’s government responded on July 21 by formally halting shipments. Officials condemned the strikes as attacks on the country’s economic interests and explicitly urged Ukraine to cease hostilities targeting the CPC infrastructure. Astana also reached out to both US and European partners, requesting assistance in securing oil transport routes.
The CPC pipeline stretches roughly 1,600 kilometers from Kazakhstan’s massive Tengiz oil field to the Novorossiysk terminal on Russia’s Black Sea coast. It has been Kazakhstan’s primary oil export artery since the early 2000s, and its output represents over 1% of global oil supply.
