Suezmax Skiros Struck After Loading at CPC Novorossiysk Terminal, Sources Say
An attack on the vessel adds to disruption at a route handling roughly 2% of global crude supply and more than 80% of Kazakhstan's exports.
The Suezmax tanker Skiros, capable of holding about 1 million barrels of crude, was struck after completing loading at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal near Novorossiysk, according to people familiar with the matter who declined to be identified because the information is not public. The CPC pipeline carries roughly 1.4 million barrels per day to that port, Doomberg reported on Tuesday (2026-08-18).5
The CPC route handles more than 80% of Kazakhstan's crude exports and supplies roughly 2% of global oil supply, Rigzone data shows. European refiners have been redirecting purchases toward Kazakh barrels as a substitute for Middle East crude, so any sustained disruption at the terminal feeds directly into competition for alternative grades across Mediterranean and northern European refineries.4,2
The Skiros attack was not the first strike against a vessel loading at CPC. The terminal suspended loadings on Monday (2026-07-20) after a drone struck a tanker there, Rigzone reported. Kazakhstan confirmed a halt to crude transfers the following day, Tuesday (2026-07-21), oilprice.com reported. If the Skiros account is accurate, it suggests strike activity at the terminal extended further than the disruptions publicly reported in late July.2,3
Ukraine has described an expanding naval campaign in the Black Sea. Ukrainian forces said they had hit more than 100 Russia-linked vessels in the Black Sea as part of that operation, Rigzone reported on Wednesday (2026-07-15). Russia's largest oil export terminal at Sheskharis went offline in the days after the CPC disruption, Rigzone reported on Friday (2026-07-24). Sheskharis had exported an average of about 650,000 barrels a day across the first half of 2026.1,4
Novorossiysk as a whole loaded more than 980,000 barrels of crude per day in June, Bloomberg data showed — more than 20% of Russia's total seaborne crude exports for the month, according to the International Energy Agency. A sustained campaign against vessels in the port's loading zone compresses Russian seaborne volumes that have already been rerouted after European sanctions cut off traditional buyers.1
Kazakhstan reached 2 million barrels per day of output in 2025, built on decades of Western investment in Tengiz, Karachaganak, and Kashagan, Doomberg reported. Nearly all of that production flows west through CPC to Novorossiysk. There is no comparable alternative export route at equivalent scale, which amplifies the effect of any prolonged disruption at the terminal.5
ICE Brent crude front-month stood at $91.84 per barrel as of early Wednesday (2026-08-19). Urals crude was assessed at $84.60 per barrel over the same period — a discount of more than $7 against Brent that embeds the market's cumulative pricing of Black Sea shipping risk and sanctions exposure. ICE Endex TTF front-month gas rose 2.97% to €63.62 per megawatt-hour in Tuesday evening (2026-08-18) trading, though that move was not attributed to the Novorossiysk situation specifically. [live prices]
The anonymous sourcing limits how much the market can price in from the Skiros account. People familiar with the matter gave no date for the attack, no description of the cause, and no detail on the extent of damage. Whether the vessel was carrying Kazakh or Russian crude when struck is also unknown. Each of those details carries implications for how Western governments react and whether insurance markets revise terms for vessels operating in the terminal's loading zone.5,2