The two ships — the Delta Harmony and the Matilda — were due to load oil barrels from Kazakhstan at the CPC offshore mooring, the person said, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public.
Prior to the attack, the vessels had moved away from the CPC facility, awaiting their turn to collect the cargoes, the person said. The extent of the damage to both ships wasn’t immediately clear.
The attacks may further disrupt loadings at CPC, the main conduit for Kazakhstan’s oil exports, which have already significantly declined due to bad winter weather and a mooring damage in a November drone strike. The incidents are likely to make owners more wary of collecting CPC Blend cargoes, premiums for which have been rising because of the reduced supply.
The press office of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium declined to comment. Delta Tankers, which manages Delta Harmony, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Calls and an email to Thenamaris, which manages Matilda, went unanswered.
Attacks on oil infrastructure and tankers crossing the Black Sea have intensified over the past six weeks, with Ukraine launching salvos on a host of vessels linked to Russia, aiming to disrupt the Kremlin’s petroleum exports and cut the revenues used to fund the war. Kyiv says that Russia is also striking merchant ships.
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