Kazakhstan told Ukraine on Sunday to stop attacking the Black Sea terminal of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which handles more than 1% of global oil, after a major drone attack halted exports and seriously damaged loading infrastructure.

The CPC, which includes Russian, Kazakh and US shareholders, said it had halted operations after a mooring at its Russian terminal on the Black Sea was significantly damaged by a Ukrainian naval drone attack.

Ukraine this year mounted wave after wave of attacks on Russia’s oil refineries and crude oil terminals in an attempt to undermine one of the most important sources of income for the Russian war economy.

Kazakhstan’s foreign ministry said the drone attacks were the third such series of attacks on what it called “an exclusively civilian facility whose operation is safeguarded by norms of international law.”

Attack on critical infrastructure

Kazakhstan “expresses its protest over yet another deliberate attack on the critical infrastructure of the international Caspian Pipeline Consortium in the waters of the Port of Novorossiysk,” the ministry said.

“We view what has occurred as an action harming the bilateral relations of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Ukraine, and we expect the Ukrainian side to take effective measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.”

Ukraine said its actions were not directed against Kazakhstan or third parties and were only aimed at repelling what it called “full-scale Russian aggression”.

“Ukraine hits back at the aggressor,” Ukraine’s foreign ministry said.

CPC accounts for about 80% of oil exports from OPEC+ member Kazakhstan, which exported about 68.6 million tons of oil last year.

It brings crude from the Tengiz, Karachaganak and Kashagan fields of Kazakhstan to the Yuzhnaya Ozereevka terminal at Novorossiysk. CPC’s main suppliers are fields in Kazakhstan but it also collects crude from Russian producers.

Tankers withdrawn from CPC water area

The CPC’s 1,500 km (930 mile) pipeline includes Russian, Kazakhstan’s state-owned KazMunayGas, and units of Chevron, Russia’s Lukoil and ExxonMobil as shareholders.

CPC said on Saturday that a November 29 naval drone attack on its terminal had “significantly damaged” Single-Point Mooring (SPM) 2 - essentially a floating buoy which connects to tankers to load oil.

“Further operation of Single Point Mooring 2 is not possible,” CPC said. “Loading operations and other operations were stopped (and) tankers were withdrawn from the CPC water area.”

“We believe that the attack on the CPC is an attack on the interests of the CPC member countries,” CPC said.

Russia says Ukraine attacks amount to terrorism

Ukraine says its attacks on infrastructure deep inside Russia are justified as it is fighting for its existence in what it casts as an imperial-style war launched by Russia which has targeted Ukraine’s energy sector ahead of winter.

Russia’s foreign ministry says the Ukrainian attacks amount to “acts of terrorism” and Russian officials say European powers are engaged in a hybrid war against Russia, which includes using Western intelligence agencies to help Kyiv target infrastructure deep inside Russia.

The ministry said the attacks threaten freedom of navigation in the region.