Chevron-chartered oil tanker Yasa Polaris, used for Caspian Pipeline Consortium shipments, was hit by a drone off Russia’s Black Sea coast, the vessel’s managing company said on Wednesday, as Kyiv steps up attacks on Russian energy targets.
Ukrainian drones have attacked a dozen tankers from Russia’s “shadow fleet” that were delivering fuel to Russian-annexed Crimea in recent days, according to the Ukrainian military.
There was no official comment from Ukrainian authorities about the incident involving the Chevron-chartered tanker.
Yasa Tanker, the managing company, said in emailed comments that the vessel, without a cargo, was hit by a drone near the CPC marine terminal on July 7 while it was drifting offshore.
“All crew members are safe and accounted for. No visible damage to the hull has been reported. No pollution or environmental impacts are reported currently. Our vessel has left the area,” it said.
Chevron said it was aware of an incident with a vessel heading to the CPC’s loading facilities near Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk and the crew was safe, while exports from Kazakhstan were not affected.
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil oil company is the major exporter of CPC Blend oil sourced mainly from a giant Tengiz oil field it operates in Kazakhstan.
Yasa Polaris was built in 2022 and can carry about 160,000 metric tons of oil, according to LSEG data.
Ukraine has targeted the CPC oil terminal and vessels carrying oil in the Black Sea area several times since the start of the war in 2022. Last year, one of the single point moorings at the CPC terminal was heavily damaged in an attack.
CPC, which accounts for around 80% of Kazakhstan’s oil exports, plans to export about 1.6 million barrels per day of CPC Blend crude in July, down from around 1.7 million bpd planned for June after drone damage to a Russian gas facility meant output had to be reduced, two trading sources said.
(Reuters)
