Ukrainian drone attacks on two tankers at Russia’s Novorossiysk port trigger third shutdown of the key oil export route.
The Caspian Pipeline Consortium suspended operations after Ukrainian drones struck two tankers loading at Novorossiysk, igniting a fire on one vessel. The attacks mark the third shutdown of the 1.4 million barrel-per-day pipeline in recent months, disrupting crude flows from Kazakhstan and Russia to global markets.
Prior to the incident, the pipeline had resumed partial flows following a brief outage in late July. Analysts had expected minimal disruption, but the latest attacks prompted five tankers en route to Novorossiysk to divert or delay orders, signaling potential supply chain bottlenecks.
Oil futures edged higher on the news, with Brent crude rising 0.8% in early trading as traders assessed the impact on regional supply.