Russia’s state pipeline operator said that an attack by Ukrainian drones on Tuesday could disrupt the global flow of crude oil.
Transneft, which is owned by Russia, is the largest pipeline operator on the planet, with more than 43,000 miles of pipes and transporting an estimated 80 percent of Russia’s oil.
At least seven drones laden with explosives and shrapnel attacked the Kropotkinskaya station on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) pipeline in Russia’s Krasnodar region causing “serious damage,” Transneft said.
The route from Kazakhstan through the Russian Federation carries oil to the world’s markets, where it is then pumped on by a group of global firms including U.S. energy titans Chevron and Exxon Mobil.
Kazakhstan, the largest nation in Central Asia, is responsible for around 1 percent of the global supply of oil.
“According to CPC experts, the consequences of this strike will be eliminated within 1.5 to 2 months, which may lead to a decrease in oil pumping from Kazakhstan by about 30 percent,” Transneft said.
A cut of that size could total as much as 380,000 barrels per day, according to Reuters.
Oil is temporarily being rerouted to the Tengiz-Novorossiysk oil pipeline via an emergency loop that bypasses the Kropotkinskaya station.
Benchmark oil prices rose nearly 1 percent on Tuesday to close at $76 per barrel.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly called on oil producers to help lower prices, arguing that prices of $80 per barrel are too high for Americans.
Russia has described the strike as a brazen and provocative attack.
“A blow to an oil consortium could stop oil pumping, unbalance the market, increase oil price spikes, and cause direct damage to American companies,” said Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council.
Medvedev, who was president of Russia between 2008 and 2012, said the attack on a pipeline partly owned by U.S. companies was a blow against Trump and that it remained to be seen what the U.S. president would do about it.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said that it had attacked the fuel and energy infrastructure of Russia, including the CPC pumping station.
Russia also launched a large-scale attack overnight involving 176 drones in the regions of Kirovohrad, Kharkiv, Kyiv, and Cherkasy, according to the Ukrainian military.
“The CPC oil pipeline continues to operate,” CPC said in a statement, adding that specialists had given a damage assessment on the Kropotkinskaya station.
It did not say who was behind the drone attack.
It said the pipeline was still pumping oil to awaiting tankers on the Black Sea, though at reduced levels while bypassing the damaged station.
“Oil is being received from shippers according to the specified technical pumping capabilities,” CPC said.
The 939-mile pipeline exported 63 million metric tons of CPC Blend crude in 2024.
It is pumped from Kazakhstan’s Tengiz oilfield on the northeastern shore of the Caspian Seas as well as from Russian producers.
The Arab state’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met on Monday with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Riyadh, U.S. national security adviser Mike Waltz, and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, all part of the U.S. negotiating team.
From Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov were due to take part, the Kremlin said.
