Another Tanker Attacked at CPC Terminal Before Loading Kazakh Oil

The tanker Nordic Zenith, which was preparing to load oil at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal off the Black Sea coast, was attacked by drones. The loading was disrupted, according to infohub.kz.

The Nordic Zenith caught fire after two nighttime drone attacks. The crew extinguished the fire. CPC vessels evacuated 13 people from the tanker, while nine remained on board. The ship had been scheduled to start loading oil in the morning, but following the attack, it became unfit for loading.

CPC is a key route for delivering Kazakh oil to Europe via its terminal in Novorossiysk. The consortium's infrastructure handles 80% of Kazakhstan's pipeline oil exports. The Nordic Zenith is a Suezmax-class vessel (capable of transiting the Suez Canal fully loaded). It sails under the Liberian flag. The ship departed from Istanbul on July 10.

Earlier, on July 8, a Chevron oil tanker carrying Kazakh oil from the CPC terminal was also attacked by drones. CPC's shareholders include Russia's Transneft (24%), KazMunayGas (19%), U.S. Chevron (15%), Russia's Lukoil (12.5%), U.S. ExxonMobil (7.5%), Rosneft-Shell Caspian Ventures Limited (7.5%), Russia's MK CPC Company (7%), and Italy's Eni (2%).