Putin: West Should Repair Oil Facility Damaged by Ukraine

By Staff, Agencies

Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested, that repairs to an oil pumping station in southern Russia damaged by a Ukrainian drone strike on Monday should be covered by the facility operator’s Western co-owners.

The infrastructure is operated by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium [CPC], which is partly controlled by US and EU companies.

The station was attacked on Monday by at least seven Ukrainian drones, Russia’s deputy prime minister and former energy minister, Aleksandr Novak, told Putin during a government meeting on Tuesday. The strike damaged critical components, prompting its operators to resort to a reserve pumping scheme and slash capacity by 30-40%, the official said.

According to Novak, restoring the station’s full capacity would require “major repairs” since it used Western equipment, including from Germany’s Siemens, which has previously refused to supply equipment for Russian gas pipelines, citing sanctions. Repairing the facility could, according to Novak, take “quite a long time.”

The Western CPC shareholders are also taking part in the damage assessment, Novak said, adding that the list of consortium members includes US giants Chevron and ExxonMobil.

The Russian president responded by saying that the Western companies should facilitate the repairs at the station and provide all the necessary equipment.

“Since they [the Western companies] are… interested in restoring the facility’s operational capacity, then let them arrange for the necessary equipment delivery despite all the sanctions,” Putin said. He added that the CPC shareholders would be doing this “for their own benefit” anyway. Moscow will provide the necessary assistance, he noted.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called the strike an attack against US companies, the global oil market, and US President Donald Trump’s agenda. On Tuesday, Novak described the attack as Kiev's “response” to the US desire to engage in dialogue with Moscow.