“The tanker Matilda, flying the flag of Malta, chartered by a subsidiary of the national company KazMunayGas, was attacked by a UAV. An explosion was recorded on the vessel without subsequent combustion. There were no casualties among the crew,” the statement said.
According to preliminary assessments from technical services, the tanker “remains seaworthy.”
“No signs of critical damage to the hull have been identified at this time,” the statement said.
In addition, the Delta Harmony tanker flying the flag of Liberia was also attacked by a UAV while it was waiting for loading, the Kazakh Ministry of Energy added.
“As a result of the incident, a fire occurred, which was promptly extinguished. There were no injuries among the crew members,” the department noted.
With reference to data from the operational headquarters, they added that at the time of the incident, oil had not yet been loaded onto the tanker.
“The cargo tanks were empty, and therefore no damage was caused to the export resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan,” the Kazakh Ministry of Energy summarized.
Earlier, on January 13, the media wrote that unknown drones attacked three oil tankers (Delta Harmony, Delta Supreme and Matilda) near the Yuzhnaya Ozereevka CPC terminal (a loading point for about 80% of Kazakh oil intended for international markets) in the Black Sea near Novorossiysk (the aggressor country of the Russian Federation).
Context
At the beginning of December 2025, Bloomberg wrote that Ukrainian drones stopped the main export route Kazakh oil through the Black Sea.
Thus, at the end of November, sea drones attacked the CPC marine terminal, which controls the Caspian oil pipeline, through which oil from Western Kazakhstan and Russia flows to terminals near Novorossiysk for further export. Following the attack, Novorossiysk port authorities ordered the suspension of all operations at the facility.
The Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan immediately responded, calling the oil pipeline an object of critical infrastructure and linking the strike to global risks. The country's Foreign Ministry also expressed an official protest and noted that it expects concrete actions from Kyiv to prevent similar incidents in the future.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stated that no actions by Ukraine are not directed against Kazakhstan, and all efforts of Kyiv are entrusted to repelling full-scale Russian aggression within the framework of the right to self-defense.
Ukraine has already repeatedly attacked the port of Novorossiysk, after which oil exports were stopped. Thus, on the night of November 25, the Ukrainian defense forces, together with the SBU, hit the Sheskharis oil terminal in Novorossiysk and the naval base.
