CPC Drone Attack: Kazakhstan Sustains Losses, While Russia Benefits?

On February 17, seven drones attacked the Kropotkinskaya oil pumping station, part of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC). According to CPC, the drones were loaded with explosives and metal shrapnel, causing serious damage to the facility.

Although the station is in Russia, it transports Kazakhstan's oil from Tengiz, Orda.kz reports.

Temur Umarov, a political scientist and Central Asia expert from the Carnegie Berlin Center, noted on his Telegram channel that the attack primarily impacted Kazakhstan, not Russia:

The Russian Federation will not sustain significant losses since CPC is not critically important for its economy. However, Kazakhstan may lose up to 30% of its oil exports and up to two trillion tenge in budget revenues.

Ukraine had long avoided targeting CPC infrastructure over concerns about harming Kazakhstan and its international partners. 

The Ukrainian Armed Forces confirmed that this operation was part of a broader strategy to weaken Russia’s fuel and energy infrastructure.

Umarov suggests that the attack has become an opportunity for political maneuvering for Moscow. Russia is already implying that damage to the pipeline could influence Russian-American negotiations in Riyadh.

For example, before the talks and the attack on the CPC, Moscow's main thesis on Western sanctions was 'impose as many as you like, it doesn't hurt us, it's even better with them.' Now, Vladimir Putin is proposing to make an exception for repairing the pipeline and deliver equipment to Russia bypassing the sanctions restrictions," the expert writes.

According to Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy, oil shipments have no restrictions, and operations are proceeding as usual.

Original Author: Rustam Muratov