A Ukrainian drone attack hit the Kropotkin oil pumping station belonging to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) in South Russia, yesterday, reportedly causing extensive damage, taking it out of service for up to several months.
What’s crucial about the CPC is that it’s not a Russian operator but rather owned by an international grouping of oil companies pumping oil out of Kazakhstan. “This oil is extracted in Kazakhstan under a production-sharing agreement between Kazakhstan and the consortium’s participants,” Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak explained to Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting of government members a few hours later. Novak noted that the shareholders are predominantly foreign entities, including American companies such as Chevron and ExxonMobil, along with several European firms. “The consortium itself is not under sanctions and had been reliably transporting oil across Russian territory via pipeline infrastructure to Novorossiysk,” he said. “In reality, this attack targeted the cessation of oil supplies belonging to foreign shareholders.”
The repair of the facility will be complicated by the fact that it incorporates power equipment sourced from Western countries. “Notably, it includes machinery from Siemens, specifically a gas turbine plant,” Novak said.
