Moscow (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – An overnight Ukrainian drone attack has suspended operations at a major oil pumping station in the south of Russia that allows the flow of oil from Kazakhstan’s three biggest western-led oil developments – Kashagan, Tengiz and Kashagan – to foreign markets, including Europe.
In a statement Caspian Pipeline Consortium said,
“The strike on the Kropotkinskaya facility has been carried out by seven unmanned aerial vehicles that were filled with metal striking elements in addition to explosives.”
A spokesperson from Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, Andriy Kovalenko, verified the incursion on the pumping post and another oil installation in the area, the Ilsky refinery. The Kazakh energy ministry stated in a statement that points of entry for the Caspian Pipeline in Kazakhstan are persisting in receiving oil from the country’s oil producers without limitations.
What did the pipeline’s operator say?
The operator of the pipeline said drones struck the pumping facility at different time intervals, suggesting in the view that the
“aim [of the attack] was not only disrupting the operation of the facility, but also causing casualties among the operational personnel of the station”.
“There have been no casualties among the personnel of the station. The employees [on the site] have prevented the threat of a potential oil spill”,
Caspian Pipeline stated. After the attack, functions of the Kropotkinskaya facility were halted.
The discharge of crude oil through the pumping structure has not been fully suspended, according to the operator. Coming oil is being passed to a nearby pumping structure along the pipeline, avoiding Kropotkinskaya, although operating at a lowered rate, the operator said.
What is the significance of the Caspian Pipeline?
The Caspian Pipeline operates from the Atyrau oil region in Kazakhstan throughout the Krasnodar area in Russia. It concludes with a sea tanker loading terminal many kilometres distant from the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.
The transmission line is responsible for an assessed supply of around 1% of the global oil market. Last year, it hauled approximately 1.17 million barrels of light and sweet oil per day from Kazakhstan and also approximately 200,000 barrels per day of Russian oil with comparable characteristics. The system has a nameplate capability of approximately 1.6 million bpd.
