Ukraine has agreed to stop targeting non-Russian oil tankers and maritime infrastructure critical to Kazakhstan’s oil exports in the Black Sea following US intervention, Bloomberg reported.
The US-brokered agreement comes after a series of Ukrainian drone strikes in July near the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal in Novorossiysk, Russia, temporarily halted oil loadings and disrupted global energy markets.
According to an unnamed US official cited by Bloomberg, Ukraine committed to refraining from attacking CPC infrastructure and non-Russian vessels heading to the terminal.
The agreement stipulates that protected vessels must not be under Ukrainian sanctions, must not carry Russian oil or other cargo, and cannot be owned by Russian entities.
To facilitate the arrangement, Kyiv has established dedicated contact points to exchange information with commercial carriers and provide safe passage instructions.
Pressure from the US oil industry
The diplomatic push to protect the transit route was driven by heavy lobbying from the US oil industry.
In late July, the Trump administration warned Kyiv to cease attacks on non-Russian shipping after Chevron CEO Mike Wirth met with senior US officials.
The warning followed a Ukrainian strike that affected four tankers near Novorossiysk, one of which was chartered by the American energy giant.
Chevron holds a 15% stake in the CPC, which transports crude from Kazakhstan to the Black Sea, and a 50% interest in Kazakhstan’s highly productive Tengiz oil field. The July disruptions at the Novorossiysk terminal bottlenecked exports and forced Kazakhstan to throttle domestic oil production due to limited storage capacity.
The CPC terminal handles approximately 2% of the world’s daily crude oil supply. Washington viewed the protection of this route as a vital alternative to Russian energy, particularly as global oil prices have surged past $100 per barrel due to the ongoing conflict with Iran and supply constraints through the Strait of Hormuz.
The rising fuel costs have become a highly sensitive domestic issue for the US administration ahead of the November midterm elections, prompting swift intervention to prevent further supply shocks.
While commercial shipping operations at the terminal have resumed since the agreement, Bloomberg noted that volumes remain below normal levels. Russian authorities routinely suspend loading operations at the port whenever drone warnings are issued in the area, leading to lingering operational delays.