Kazakhstan urges US and Europe to help secure oil transport after tanker attacks in Black Sea

MOSCOW, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan on Wednesday urged the U.S. and Europe to help secure the transport of oil following drone attacks on tankers heading to a Black Sea terminal on the Russian coast which handles one percent of global supply.

Unidentified drones struck at least two oil tankers in the Black Sea on Tuesday, including one chartered by U.S. oil major Chevron, as they sailed toward a terminal on the Russian coast to load oil from Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan’s foreign ministry said in a statement that three tankers were hit en route to the marine terminal of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) in the Black Sea.

On November 29, drones also attacked CPC’s exporting equipment, resulting in a fall in oil exports via the outlet. 

"The increasing frequency of such incidents highlights the growing risks to the functioning of international energy infrastructure," the ministry said in a statement.

"We therefore call upon our partners to engage in close cooperation to develop joint measures aimed at preventing similar incidents in the future," it added.

Russian defence ministry said on Wednesday that the Matilda tanker, sailing under the Maltese flag, came under attack by two Ukrainian strike drones at a distance of about 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the city of Anapa in Russia’s Krasnodar region.

Ukraine did not comment on the incident.

Shareholders in CPC’s 1,500-km (930-mile) pipeline include Kazakhstan’s state-owned oil company KazMunayGas, Russia’s Lukoil and units of U.S. oil giants Chevron and ExxonMobil.

Russian terminals on the Black Sea handle more than 2% of global crude. Its waters, which are shared by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania and Turkey, as well as Russia and Ukraine, are also crucial for the shipment of grain.

CPC alone accounts for around 80% of oil exports from Kazakhstan.