Ukraine struck another major Russian refinery Thursday, hitting Gazprom’s Neftekhim Salavat complex in the Urals as Kyiv intensified attacks that have already forced Moscow to curb fuel exports and even import gasoline.
The attack caused a fire at the 200,000-barrel-per-day facility in Russia’s Bashkortostan region, about 750 miles east of Moscow, according to Ukraine’s General Staff. Regional governor Radiy Khabirov said falling drone debris started a fire in Salavat’s industrial area but did not identify the damaged facility.
Neftekhim Salavat was also attacked in mid-July.
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Another Urals refinery is in worse shape. The 120,000-bpd Orsknefteorgsintez plant in the Orenburg region has completely halted operations following Ukrainian drone strikes, regional governor Yevgeny Solntsev said Thursday.
Repairs could take as long as six months because sanctions are making damaged equipment difficult to replace, Solntsev said. The refinery was hit Monday and the city of Orsk came under another drone attack Thursday.
Ukraine has targeted Russian refineries and export infrastructure nearly daily as it tries to squeeze Moscow’s oil revenue while tightening domestic fuel supplies. The refinery outages have already contributed to gasoline shortages and prompted Russia to restrict exports of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.
Russia has even started importing gasoline from India. A 42,000-ton cargo from Nayara Energy’s Vadinar refinery arrived in Russia on August 5, according to Kpler data. The Indian refinery is partly owned by Rosneft and processes Russian crude.
Russian refinery runs averaged about 3.6 million bpd in July, more than 30% below seasonal levels, according to EA Analytics estimates cited by Bloomberg.
The processing losses are also showing up in Russia’s export numbers. Seaborne petroleum-product exports fell 33% in July from June and nearly 55% from a year earlier as refinery outages cut available fuel supplies.
Ukraine also targeted oil infrastructure connected to Transneft’s Sheskharis export terminal at Novorossiysk this week, according to Ukraine’s Security Service, extending the pressure from Russian refineries to the infrastructure needed to move crude abroad.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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