Ukraine halts strikes on tankers using Russian port at US request, FT says
XLE•Administration said to have repeated its warning
A U.S. official confirmed to the paper that the administration had warned Ukraine to stop attacking non-Russian vessels in the Black Sea.
Strikes have hit CPC loadings and Kazakhstan output
Ukrainian forces recently stepped up strikes on Russian energy infrastructure and other sites in an effort Kyiv says aims at depriving Russia of resources to fund its military.
Black Sea drone attacks took out as much as a fifth of CPC oil loadings in July, four sources familiar with the data told Reuters last week, as the Russia-Ukraine war spilled over to hit sales by Kazakhstan and western oil majors.
Kazakhstan, which relies on the CPC route for crude exports, suffered a drop of 14% in oil production in July versus June, the sources said. Chevron CVX.N and Exxon Mobil XOM.N are among the major Western oil companies operating there.
Ukraine pauses strikes on tankers using Novorossiysk port
Aug. 12 (Reuters) - Ukraine has paused drone strikes on oil tankers using Russia's Black Sea port of Novorossiysk after a request from U.S. Vice President JD Vance, the Financial Times said on Wednesday, citing Ukrainian officials.
The paper said last month's request followed U.S. alarm that Ukraine was destabilising oil markets and harming U.S. firms by targeting tankers carrying crude piped from Kazakhstan to a Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal at the port.
U.S. warns against targeting non-Russian vessels and CPC infrastructure
The Trump administration has warned the Ukrainian government of the need to "cease and desist" from targeting non-Russian vessels in the Black Sea, as well as CPC infrastructure, a U.S. official told Reuters, adding that the U.S. views the CPC as an alternative to Russian energy supplies.
