West should repair oil infrastructure damaged by Ukraine – Putin

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, President Vladimir Putin has suggested. 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 along time.”

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