Bloomberg: Ukrainian drones hit 12% of Russia’s oil refining capacity in 2 days
14 March 2024 09:44
Three attacks by Ukrainian drones on Russian refineries over the past two days have put 12% of the Russian oil refining industry out of action. This is stated in a Bloomberg article, according to Kommersant Ukrainian 
Yesterday, 13 March, unknown drones blew up the Ryazan oil refinery. The attack also shut down the Novoshakhtinsky oil refinery in the south of Rostov region. A day earlier, Lukoil’s refinery in the Nizhny Novgorod region was hit. These three refineries alone account for about 12% of Russia’s refining capacity.
For example, the Ryazan refinery, which is located about 200 kilometres southeast of Moscow, has a capacity of 17.1 million tonnes per year, or about 340,000 barrels per day. It is the main supplier of motor fuel for Russia’s metropolitan regions. Two primary refining units had to be shut down as a result of the attack.
The Novoshakhtinsky refinery has a capacity of 5.6 million tonnes per year, or about 112,000 barrels per day.
In February, Ukrainian drones hit about 20% of Russia’s oil refining industry, but by March it was already recovering.
Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that the attacks were aimed at disrupting his election, but it is more likely that they are part of the current tactics of the Ukrainian armed forces. In addition to hitting Russia’s own oil refining industry, the attacks are complicating the logistics of the Russian army.
At the beginning of the year, Russian media reported problems with the export of petroleum products. In particular, in January, exports of petrol fell by 37% and diesel by 23%. The Russian Ministry of Energy explained this, among other things, by “unscheduled repairs” at refineries. On 1 March, Russia imposed a ban on petrol exports that will remain in place for six months. This coincided with a series of drone attacks on Russian refineries.
