State of emergency declared at Moscow oil refinery amid panic and strikes
Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations employees have been instructed to switch to an "enhanced operating regimen." All firefighting equipment must be ready for use, and rescuers are prohibited from taking leave. Real panic is occurring near the Moscow Oil Refinery.
Many of the reports provided by Russian state media or Kremlin officials are likely not true. Such reports may be part of an information war from the Russian Federation.
According to the Baza channel, the enhanced regimen will last until September 9th. Actions include moving employees to a three-shift schedule, assigning guards, and introducing backup shifts and equipment.
A key refinery for Russia's capital
"All equipment must be ready for use: it is forbidden to park firefighting equipment located in crews and reserves outside the station," it reads.
Ministry employees check basements, utility rooms, and even window screens every hour.
The Baza channel also published a recording showing the chaos prevailing near the Moscow Oil Refinery. The video shows dozens of fire hoses stretching for kilometres and workers laying them out.
Moscow Oil Refinery is an oil refining company owned by Gazprom Neft, headquartered in Moscow. In its early years, the refinery's estimated capacity was 155 thousand tonnes of petrol annually, and the main raw material for its production was heating oil from the Baku fields.
Supplies fuel to airports
The total share of the Moscow Refinery in the capital's fuel market is 35 per cent. The plant covers 40 per cent of Moscow's petrol demand and 50 per cent of diesel demand and is the main supplier of fuel for the capital's airports. One in three cars in Moscow is powered by fuel from the Moscow Refinery. One in two streets in the capital is built and repaired using bitumen from the Moscow Refinery.
It is also one of the largest taxpayers among Moscow enterprises. About 80 per cent of the produced goods are sold in Moscow and the Moscow region, 10-15 per cent is exported, and 5-10 per cent is sent to other regions of Russia and neighbouring countries.
Russian refineries targeted by Kyiv
A strike on the Moscow Oil Refinery would lead to paralysis. Only this week, Kyiv successfully struck the refinery in Omsk, the ill-fated fuel depot owned by the Federal Government Reserve Agency of Russia (Rosrezerv) "Atlas" in the Kamensky district of the Rostov region, and the Rosrezerv refinery "Zenith" in the Kirov region of Russia.
Since 18th August, a fire has been burning in the oil storage facility in Proletarsk in the Rostov region, which started after a drone attack.
As reported by the BBC on Wednesday, since the beginning of the year, Ukrainian forces have attacked oil refineries and other energy infrastructure in Russia and the occupied territories of Crimea and the Luhansk region at least 64 times. In recent weeks, drones have most often attacked facilities in southwestern Russia.
