FT: Ukraine suspended attacks on oil tankers after Vance intervention

Ukraine has halted an intense campaign of drone strikes against oil tankers operating near a key Black Sea port following a request from US Vice-President JD Vance at the end of last month, according to Ukrainian officials and people familiar with the matter, cited by the Financial Times.

Washington had become concerned that the attacks were destabilising global oil markets and harming US companies by targeting tankers carrying crude from Kazakhstan to a Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal at the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.

Vance asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to halt the attacks during a telephone call on July 31, according to Ukrainian officials and other people familiar with the discussions.

Ukraine has not attacked tankers near the CPC terminal since then, the officials said, a development also supported by an analysis of open-source information.

The Ukrainian side had agreed not to target CPC infrastructure or non-Russian vessels, provided those ships were not subject to Ukrainian sanctions and were not carrying Russian oil or other Russian cargo, the officials said.

“We very carefully listen to our American partners,” a senior Ukrainian official said, adding that Kyiv had established relevant “mechanisms” in response to the US request. The CPC had been “a regular part of the conversation with the US and the Kazakh governments”, the official said.

The United States has significant commercial interests in the pipeline. US energy companies Chevron and ExxonMobil both hold stakes in the CPC, Kazakhstan's main oil export route, as well as in the western Kazakh oilfields that supply it. Chevron owns a 50 per cent stake in Tengiz, Kazakhstan's largest oilfield, while ExxonMobil owns 25 per cent.

A US official confirmed that the administration had warned Ukraine to stop targeting non-Russian vessels in the Black Sea as well as CPC infrastructure.

“The administration views the CPC as a vital conduit of Kazakhstan-origin energy for European markets that serves as an alternative to Russian energy supplies,” the official said.

The United States had “reaffirmed” Kyiv's commitment to refrain from targeting CPC infrastructure and non-Russian vessels bound for the pipeline's terminal at Novorossiysk, provided those vessels were not otherwise subject to Ukrainian sanctions, the official added.

The latest request was not the first time Washington has sought to deter Ukraine from striking targets linked to American commercial interests in Russia.

In February, Olha Stefanishyna, then Ukraine's ambassador to Washington, said she had received a démarche — a diplomatic communication intended to formally register disapproval — from the US State Department following a Ukrainian drone strike on the port of Novorossiysk late last year.

Ukraine's attacks on the CPC terminal last month, combined with an intense campaign against Russian shipping in the Sea of Azov, disrupted oil flows and maritime transport. The strikes repeatedly forced Kazakhstan to suspend shipments through the pipeline to Novorossiysk and pushed shipping rates and insurance costs to more than twice their previous levels.

CPC loaded only 1.3 million barrels per day in July, according to energy-flow tracker Kpler, down more than 300,000 barrels per day from June and 600,000 barrels per day from May.

Kazakh crude has assumed greater importance in global oil markets as supplies from the Middle East remain constrained by the war with Iran.

A tanker chartered by ExxonMobil was struck during the Ukrainian attacks on July 17 while waiting to load at the CPC terminal.

Chevron Chief Executive Mike Wirth said last month that the company was working with the US and other governments to ensure the “pipeline stays flowing”.

Ukraine's strikes are part of a broader long-range drone campaign targeting Russian oil infrastructure. Kyiv has said such attacks are intended to bring the war deeper into Russia and disrupt the revenues that finance the Kremlin's continuing invasion.

By Tamilla Hasanova