Third CPC Terminal Shutdown in July: How Ukraine's Drone Campaign Against Kazakh Oil Exports Is Forging Conflict With Washington

The attack capped a devastating July for Kazakhstan's oil export lifeline. The CPC terminal handles roughly 80% of Kazakhstan's seaborne crude, carrying over 1% of global oil supply . By July 23, the cumulative disruptions had forced Kazakhstan to slash output. Production at the Chevron-led Tengiz field — the country's largest — more than halved, to around 400,000 barrels per day, according to two industry sources . The Kazakh energy ministry confirmed oil firms had to adjust daily output because storage tanks at the export bottleneck had reached capacity after CPC stopped accepting incoming crude .

A Month of Repeated Shutdowns

The July 30 strike was not an isolated event. Loadings were first suspended on July 19, when drones hit the tankers Asia and Nissos Ios during loading . Operations resumed briefly, only to be halted again on July 20 when the tanker NELSA was hit while loading at single-point mooring No. 1 . Loadings restarted around July 27, but the July 30 attack shut the route down once more . In total, Ukrainian drones struck at least six tankers serving CPC in July, including a Chevron-chartered vessel on July 8 .

Kazakhstan condemned the strikes as