US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed drone attacks on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) in the Black Sea during a phone call with Kazakh Foreign Minister Yermek Kosherbayev.
According to a statement from the Kazakh Foreign Ministry, the two ministers addressed current issues in bilateral relations within the framework of their strategic partnership. The call also reviewed preparations for Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev's visit to the US to attend the G20 summit.
Recent developments around the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which operates in the Black Sea, were discussed in detail during the call. Last week, the Kazakh Energy Ministry announced that oil production in the country had been temporarily reduced after oil loading operations for tankers were halted due to drone attacks on the CPC marine terminal.
The Kazakh Foreign Ministry condemned the drone attacks on July 17 and 19 against civilian tankers transporting oil through CPC infrastructure, stating that these attacks were an unacceptable attempt to harm the country's economic interests.
The approximately 1,510-kilometer CPC pipeline connects Kazakhstan's oil fields in the Caspian Sea to Russia's Novorossiysk port and handles about 80% of Kazakhstan's oil exports.