The attack occurred after the vessel took on cargo at the terminal of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) near Novorossiysk, Bloomberg reported, citing sources. The ship, with a capacity of about one million barrels, sails under the flag of Liberia and is operated by a company based in Athens.
Although the CPC terminal primarily loads Kazakh oil, this particular cargo was of Russian origin, Bloomberg noted.
The company that owns the tanker said no crew members were injured in the incident and no oil products leaked into the sea.
The Financial Times previously reported, citing Ukrainian officials, that Ukraine had halted attacks on tankers near the CPC terminal after U.S. Vice President JD Vance asked Volodymyr Zelensky on July 31 to do so. Kyiv agreed not to strike the consortium's infrastructure or vessels heading to the terminal, on the condition that the ships are not Russian-owned, not under Ukrainian sanctions, and not carrying Russian oil or other Russian cargo.
The CPC is the main export route for oil from Kazakhstan. U.S. companies Chevron (50% of the Tengiz field) and ExxonMobil (25%) hold major stakes in the consortium and in the fields feeding the pipeline. Due to Ukrainian attacks in July, CPC shipped 1.3 million barrels per day — 600,000 fewer than in May.