An oil tanker chartered by ExxonMobil was attacked by two drones on Friday as it prepared to load crude at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium marine terminal off Russia's Black Sea coast, the CPC operator said. A fire broke out on the Suezmax vessel Nordic Zenith and was later extinguished, and nearby CPC vessels evacuated 13 crew members while nine others chose to remain on board.
Reuters cited sources identifying the ship as chartered by the U.S. oil major, though an ExxonMobil spokesperson declined to discuss operational details and noted the company does not own or operate marine vessels. CPC said the tanker has been removed from the loading schedule and is unfit for mooring or loading at the terminal near the port of Novorossiysk. The consortium did not name any party as responsible for the strike.
The CPC pipeline runs 940 miles from Kazakhstan's Caspian fields to the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk and handles roughly 80% of Kazakh oil exports. Operations have been intermittently disrupted through the war by Ukrainian strikes on Russian pumping stations and by drone attacks on the loading terminal itself, a pattern that has now extended to the vessels calling there.
The incident lands during a sharp escalation of maritime attacks in the Black and Azov seas over the past week, with both Russia and Ukraine hitting shipping and port infrastructure that had until now largely been spared. For tanker owners, charterers and Kazakh producers who rely on the CPC route to reach global buyers, the strike raises the direct war risk premium for calls at Novorossiysk and points to insurers and shipping desks reassessing coverage and diversion options for the corridor.