Drone attack ends three quiet weeks at CPC oil terminal near Novorossiysk
On Sunday evening, a drone struck a Greek tanker that had just loaded Russian oil at the CPC terminal near Novorossiysk. No crew were hurt and no oil spilled into the sea.
A drone attacked the Greek-flagged tanker Skiros on the evening of August 16, shortly after it took on cargo at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal near Novorossiysk, Bloomberg reported, citing sources. The vessel, with a capacity of about 1 million barrels, had just been loaded with Russian oil.
According to the tanker's operators, no crew members were injured and no petroleum products leaked into the sea as a result of the strike.
Bloomberg noted that this was the first attack on a vessel calling at the CPC terminal in almost three weeks.
A prior understanding
The Financial Times reported on August 12, citing sources, that in late July US Vice President JD Vance had asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to stop strikes on CPC infrastructure and on tankers using the port of Novorossiysk. Per the report, Kyiv agreed to spare the consortium's infrastructure and vessels registered outside Russia — but only on the condition that those ships were not carrying Russian cargo.
The CPC terminal serves as the main export channel for Kazakh oil, and American energy majors Chevron and ExxonMobil hold significant stakes in it.
Ukrainian strikes in July had already reduced CPC shipments to 1.3 million barrels per day, a drop of 600,000 barrels compared to May.
/nginx/o/2026/08/17/17854674t1he4ab.jpg)
