Drone strike on Russian oil station is beneficial for Russia, market analysts say
18 February 2025 12:18
OPINION
Oil prices are rising again – this time as a result of a drone attack on an oil pipeline station in Russia. This has disrupted the supply of Russian crude through Kazakhstan, to which the markets immediately reacted,
Thus, Brent futures rose by 15 cents, or 0.2%, to $75.37 per barrel. Futures for U.S. WTI crude oil rose by 67 cents to $71.41 per barrel in two days.
An unknown drone reportedly struck the Kropotkinskoye station, which runs about 1% of the world’s crude oil supply.
The expert in an exclusive commentary
“It is beneficial, because the higher the prices, the more revenue Russia receives, including for the military budget. In addition, Kazakhstan is a certain competitor in the global oil market, and Russia’s goal is to prevent this competitor from entering the market through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium pipeline. Therefore, the destruction or damage of this oil pipeline is beneficial only to Russia and no one else,”
– claims Omelchenko.
And then there’s not only simple arithmetic – the less oil is pumped to the world market, the higher the prices – but also the PR effect. After all, markets are very sensitive to such things, and the price of oil is formed, among other things, on expectations. Therefore, an event such as the damage to an oil station definitely affects price formation, the expert says.
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Andrian Prokip, an energy analyst at the Ukrainian Institute for the Future, clarifies that such a price increase is speculative. However, the situation in question will not have a decisive impact on the market.
“It is not yet clear how serious the damage is, how long it will take to repair. But this is not something that changes the picture on the global oil market,”
– he commented exclusively for
He agrees that the strike on the Kropotkinskaya station is primarily beneficial to Russia.
“A year ago, the Financial Times wrote that Washington asked not to strike at Russian oil infrastructure because there were fears that the Russians would blow up the Caspian Pipeline Consortium. So maybe this is a Russian provocation, let’s say, to get some kind of information to blame Ukraine for it,”
– the expert admits.
However, he emphasizes that this will not have a significant impact on the market.
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