Oil pipeline Reduced
CPC Pipeline (Caspian Pipeline Consortium) is currently reduced (since July 17, 2026): Drone attacks on tankers at the CPC terminal (17-20 Jul) halted loadings on 22 Jul and forced Kazakh output cuts. Loadings resumed but were below normal as of 8 Aug; Ukraine has since agreed with the US not to target CPC-linked shipping. Turkish permit limits on Novorossiysk-bound ships add risk.
Updated August 8, 2026 · View on the live map →
Kazakhstan (Tengiz) to Russia (Novorossiysk, Black Sea). ~1,510 km. Capacity ~1.4 million bpd. Commissioned 2001. Primary export route for Kazakh crude. Consortium includes Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, KazMunayGas, and Lukoil.
Kazakhstan's most important export route — and its biggest strategic vulnerability. The pipeline transits Russia and terminates at a Russian port, giving Moscow potential leverage over Kazakh oil revenues. In 2022, Russian courts briefly ordered CPC operations suspended (officially for environmental reasons), widely interpreted as political pressure on Kazakhstan for insufficient support of Russia's war in Ukraine. Western majors (Chevron holds 15%) have a direct operational stake, creating a complex situation where US corporate interests depend on Russian territorial cooperation. Kazakhstan has accelerated exploration of trans-Caspian export alternatives to reduce this dependency.
Turkey's coastal safety directorate stopped issuing Dardanelles transit permits for commercial ships bound for Novorossiysk (and reportedly Ukrainian ports) after attacks on two Turkish-owned vessels; traffic to Bulgarian and Turkish ports continued. The move compounds Black Sea export disruption.
After a request from VP Vance on 31 July, Ukraine agreed to halt attacks on non-Russian tankers and infrastructure serving the CPC terminal, provided vessels carry no Russian cargo, are not Russian-owned and are not under Ukrainian sanctions. CPC shipments had resumed but remained below normal.
Four tankers heading to or loading at the CPC terminal near Novorossiysk (Nordic Zenith, Asia, Nissos Ios, Nelsa) were hit by drones on 17-20 July. CPC suspended loadings on 22 July as storage filled and Kazakhstan announced temporary output cuts on 23 July. Russia blamed Ukraine; Kazakhstan called the attacks unacceptable. CPC carries ~80% of Kazakh exports.
A Ukrainian strike damaged a CPC mooring-point pipeline and loading facilities and set four storage tanks ablaze at the Sheskharis terminal, which handles roughly 20% of Russian seaborne crude exports. CPC carries ~1% of world oil supply and ~80% of Kazakh exports.