Armed Forces attacked drilling rigs "Chernomorneftegaz"

The Armed Forces of Ukraine attacked the drilling rigs of Chornomorneftegaz, which are also known as the “Boyko rigs”.

This was announced by the Moscow-appointed head of the Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov. Russia took over these oil rigs after annexing the peninsula in 2014. “The blow was struck on three towers. There were 109 people on them, 21 have already been evacuated,” he said.

According to Aksyonov, the strongest blow fell on the first tower. “There were 12 people there, five of them were injured, the search for the rest continues,” he said.

The gas supply to Crimea is not disrupted, Aksyonov said. He stressed that the peninsula has a mainland pipe, which, at maximum load, can supply up to 4 billion cubic meters of gas.

Olga Kovitidi, a member of the Federation Council from Crimea, said that a missile strike from Ukraine damaged three platforms of State Unitary Enterprise Chornomorneftegaz. “At 08:37, the first strike was made on the first platform. There are 12 people working there, five were evacuated,” Kovitidi said.Interfax“Later, according to her, two more platforms were hit, but only the towers were demolished there, there were no victims. The workers are preparing for evacuation. The victims from the first platform were evacuated by helicopters.

“The gas was released from the pipes. Production was temporarily suspended. There were no catastrophic consequences that could have happened,” Kovitidi said. The Ukrainian side has not yet officially commented on the statements of the Crimean officials.

Simultaneously with the attack on oil rigs, the aircraft of the Armed Forces of Ukraine carried out strikes on Zmeiny Island. There are no smoke or fires on the island itself. Presumably, the strike could have been inflicted by aircraft or small missile boats of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. A week before the impact (June 11, 13 and 14), this area of ​​the Black Sea was filmed by American commercial satellites. Worldview-1, Worldview-2 and Worldview-3 photographed the area where the drilling platforms are located.

Background:

• The oil-producing towers of Chornomorneftegaz, which were attacked, are located on the shelf zone between the coast of the Odessa region and the Crimea. In Ukraine, they are known as “Boyko towers” – they were purchased in Singapore under Energy Minister Yuriy Boyko.
• In 2014 both towers became the property of Russiawhen Crimea was annexed. At the same time, they remained at the Odessa field, which is much closer to the mainland of Ukraine than to the peninsula. In December 2015, the Russian Federation moved the “Boyk towers” closer to the Crimea.
• On December 23, 2015, the Kyiv Pechersk Court granted the application of the GPU for arrest of Boyk’s towers – drilling rigs on the Black Sea shelf, for which Ukraine overpaid $400 million seven years ago.
• In January 2017 Ukrainian the court arrested the captured by Russia drilling rigs.

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