Drone strikes hit two oil tankers at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium’s (CPC) marine terminal near Novorossiysk on Russia’s Black Sea coast on July 19, forcing a temporary halt to oil loading operations, the consortium said in a statement, reported Anadolu Agency. The Liberia-flagged ASIA and the Marshall Islands-flagged NISSOS IOS were struck; a fire broke out aboard the ASIA but was extinguished by emergency crews. CPC reported no casualties or oil spills, and said both vessels remained afloat.
CPC did not name an attacker, but it’s widely assumed the drones were Ukrainian. CPC condemned the strike as the fifth “act of direct aggression” against what it called a civilian facility protected under international law, noting that the consortium includes major energy firms from Russia, the United States, Kazakhstan, and Western Europe (Italy and the UK), and is deemed so necessary that it has never itself been subject to international sanctions. Ukraine’s General Staff separately said its forces struck two tankers in the Black Sea used to transport Russian oil, petroleum products, and fuel.
