Vance asked Zelensky to stop strikes on tankers near CPC terminal, FT reports

U.S. Vice President JD Vance, during a phone call on July 31, asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to halt an intensive series of drone strikes on oil tankers entering the Russian port of Novorossiysk.

The Financial Times reported this on August 12, citing Ukrainian officials and other sources.

According to the newspaper, Washington was alarmed that Ukraine was destabilizing oil markets and damaging American companies by attacking tankers carrying crude oil from Kazakhstan to the terminal of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC).

According to statements by officials and analysis of open-source data, Ukraine has not struck tankers near the CPC terminal since the phone call. According to the FT, Kyiv agreed not to hit CPC infrastructure or non-Russian vessels in the Black Sea — provided they are not subject to Ukrainian sanctions and are not carrying Russian oil or other cargo.

“We listen very carefully to our American partners,” a senior Ukrainian official said, adding that Kyiv had created corresponding “mechanisms” in response to Washington’s request.

According to the source, the issue of the CPC “has been regularly discussed during negotiations with the governments of the United States and Kazakhstan.”

Chevron and ExxonMobil interests

Major American energy companies Chevron and ExxonMobil hold stakes in the CPC, which is the main export channel for Kazakh oil, as well as in western Kazakhstani oil fields that feed the pipeline. Chevron owns 50% of the country’s largest field, Tengiz; ExxonMobil owns 25%.

“The administration views the CPC as a vital channel for delivering energy resources from Kazakhstan to European markets, serving as an alternative to energy supplies from Russia,” an American official emphasized.

According to data from Kpler, the CPC shipped just 1.3 million barrels per day in July — more than 300,000 barrels per day less than the previous month, and 600,000 barrels per day less than in May. Vance’s press office, Zelensky’s administration, and Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry did not respond to journalists’ requests for comment. Representatives of the CPC, Chevron, and ExxonMobil declined to comment.

Not the first request from the American side

The FT noted that Vance’s request is not the first time American officials have tried to dissuade Ukraine from damaging U.S. business interests in Russia. In February, Olha Stefanishyna, who was serving as Ukraine’s ambassador to Washington, said she had received a diplomatic note of disapproval (a “démarche”) from the U.S. State Department following a Ukrainian drone strike on the port of Novorossiysk in late 2025.