Drone Attacks Cripple Russian Oil Refineries, Fueling Supply Concerns
Russia faced a sharp decline in petrol production after a series of Ukrainian drone attacks, which paralyzed the operations of major oil refineries Rosneft and Lukoil, writes The Moscow Times. Last week, fuel production in the country fell by 7.4 percent, Rosstat reported on Wednesday.
The drop is noticeable. A week earlier, Russia produced approximately 815,000 tonnes of petrol, and in the week from 4 March to 10 March, around 840,000 tonnes. In three weeks, the economy lost 10.1 percent of petrol production. Diesel oil production during the same period dropped by 3.9 percent, to about 1.65 million tonnes.
Drones strike Russian refineries
According to Reuters estimates, 14 percent of the primary oil refining capacities in Russian refineries are currently not being used, nearly 10 percent of which relate to facilities producing petrol and diesel oil for the domestic market.
On 13 March at approximately 10:00 GMT, an unmanned aerial vehicle struck the largest Rosneft refinery in Ryazan, supplying fuel to Moscow and the region.
After the facility's fire, two blocks stopped working, resulting in a one-third decrease in petrol production (approximately 3,300 tonnes per day) and more than half in diesel oil production (about 5,800 tonnes per day).
On 16 March, the only operational oil refining unit at the Syzran refinery caught fire as a result of a UAV attack. Over the last weekend, the Rosneft Kuibyshev Oil Refinery shut down one of the two refining units.
Shortages could be serious
Due to the threat of fuel shortages, Russia has started negotiations with Belarus on importing petrol - Reuters sources reported. According to them, Russian companies may increase oil deliveries to the Belarusian refineries Naftan and Mozyr, each with a production capacity of approximately 12 million tonnes per year.
Plans to purchase fuel from these plants for the Russian market are underway, but negotiations "are not going smoothly," one of the Reuters sources said.
It is still unclear exactly how much Belarusian petrol will be needed. The situation in the Russian fuel market is constantly changing, and more fires are occurring in refineries. "If repairs can be completed quickly, fuel shortages will not be very noticeable," a Reuters agency source in a large oil company said.
Since 11 March, after a series of accidents in major refineries, wholesale market prices for Pb-92 rose by 13 percent, Pb-95 by 8 percent, and diesel oil by 11.9 percent.
