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Firefighters battle blaze at Kavkazskaya oil depot

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Nearby Kropotkinskaya CPC station was attacked in February

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Reuters has verified satellite image of the depot fire

(Recasts with details about the damaged depot)

March 24 (Reuters) - A fire at a drone-hit oil depot in

southern Russia raged for a fifth day on Monday, the regional

administration said, as firefighters tried to contain the blaze

at the facility that delivers Russian crude to the Caspian

pipeline.

Russia has accused Ukraine of being behind the drone attack

on March 19, saying Kyiv was violating a proposed ceasefire on

attacks on energy sites.

The depot is located just a few kilometres apart from the

Kropotkinskaya pumping station of the Caspian Pipeline

Consortium (CPC), which was also hit by a drone last month,

sparking fears of a drop in oil supplies in global markets.

The depot is key for Russia's oil exports via the CPC, which

mainly transports Kazakhstan's oil exports.

The attacks occurred amid efforts, mediated by U.S.

President Donald Trump's administration, to end the war between

Russia and Ukraine. So far, the flows via CPC have not been

interrupted, according to CPC.

The local administration said on Telegram that the fire at

the depot near the village of Kavkazskaya in the southern

Krasnodar region covered an area of around 2,000 square metres

(21,500 square feet) as of Sunday evening.

Reuters has verified the satellite imagery showing

Kavkazskaya depot burning on March 23. It shows black smoke

billowing from the reservoirs at the station.

The oil complex includes a railway loading rack at the

Getmanovskaya station and a pipeline to the Kropotkinskaya

station.

According to CPC, last year suppliers delivered at least

130,000 tons of oil per month via Kavkazskaya, with volumes

totalling around 1.51 million tons for the year as a whole.

Separately, Russia's defence ministry reported on Monday

that a Ukrainian drone was downed by Russian anti-aircraft units

and crashed approximately 7 kilometres away from the

Kropotkinskaya pumping station, near the Kavkazskaya railway

station, underscoring continuation of the attacks on the

facilities.

Ukrainian drones have repeatedly targeted Russian energy

infrastructure in recent months, including in the Krasnodar

region.

The CPC pipeline carries some Russian crude and is the main

export route for Kazakhstan, which supplies about 1% of the

world's oil. Its main shareholders include a number of Western

oil majors, such as Chevron ( CVX ), Shell and Eni

.

Exports via the CPC pipeline have been set at 1.7 million

barrels per day for April, in line with the preliminary March

plan.