Drones attacked Gazprom’s plant: Russia lost part of its gasoline production
24 September 2025 09:24
A new critical infrastructure incident has occurred in Russia. The Astrakhan gas processing plant, controlled by energy giant Gazprom, has suspended production of motor fuel after a massive fire. According to Reuters sources, the fire was caused by a drone attack, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
The fire engulfed a condensate production unit with a capacity of up to 3 million tons per year, where gasoline and diesel fuel were produced.
Consequences: fuel may not be produced for several months
The plant is located near the Caspian Sea, approximately 1,675 km from the Ukrainian border. Experts estimate that it could take several weeks or even months to resume operations.
As early as Monday, the St. Petersburg Mercantile Exchange stopped selling wholesale fuel from the Astrakhan plant.
Gazprom representatives have not yet commented on the incident. At the same time, Astrakhan Oblast Governor Igor Babushkin posted on Telegram that “an industrial enterprise was targeted by drones,” without specifying its name.
Repeated attack: the plant was already shut down in February
This is not the first time this company has been hit. In February 2025, drones already attacked the plant, which resulted in a shutdown of fuel production. The work was resumed only at the end of August.
In 2024, the Astrakhan plant processed 1.8 million tons of stable condensate, producing about 800 thousand tons of gasoline, 600 thousand tons of diesel fuel and 300 thousand tons of fuel oil.
What it means for the market
Analysts believe that the damage to the facilities could lead to a shortage of petroleum products in the southern regions of Russia and affect domestic fuel prices. This will particularly affect export supplies of gasoline and diesel.
The Astrakhan plant is one of Gazprom’s key production sites in the region, so repeated drone strikes on it call into question the reliability of Russia’s energy infrastructure.
“Allies” disapprove
Over the past month, Ukrainian drones have carried out a series of targeted attacks on key Russian oil refineries and fuel infrastructure facilities. For example, in late August, Ukrainian Armed Forces drones attacked refineries in Krasnodar and Syzran, and recently unmanned systems confirmed the damage to one of Russia’s largest refineries, followed by the largest oil export terminal Primorsk and the Kirishinefteorgsintez refinery, one of Russia’s two largest oil refineries. Experts estimate that Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries have shut down 17% of refining capacity, and this figure is only growing.
As a result of these attacks, a number of refineries shut down, and oil transportation via the Druzhba pipeline was temporarily suspended. Against the backdrop of these events, several regions of Russia have already begun to restrict the sale of gasoline – fuel is sold with coupons for businesses, and prices for AI-95 are rising rapidly
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Western partners do not support Ukraine’s campaign of strikes on Russian refineries, Bloomberg reported recently. After all, Europe is known to avoid serious measures that could cause disruptions in oil supplies. The Ukrainian attacks are already gradually leading to an increase in global fuel prices, which the “allies” do not like.
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