The Kuibyshev oil refinery halted operations last week after it was hit by a Ukrainian drone, sources told Reuters. This facility accounted for 1.34% of the total oil refinery volume.
The Russian Kuibyshev oil refinery, located near Samara, completely stopped its operations after being hit by a Ukrainian drone last week. The Russians were also forced to ban their own gasoline exports and increase gasoline imports from Belarus. Reuters’ own sources reported this.
The closure of Russia’s refinery sector, due to the urgent need for repairs following multiple drone strikes by Ukraine, further compounds the challenges facing Russia’s refining sector. According to Reuters, about 14% of Russia’s refinery capacity was shut down due to the attacks. The message states that calculations were made for unmanned aerial vehicles, including Kuibyshev.
Russia was forced to increase gasoline imports from Belarus this month to prevent a possible fuel shortage, the publication said. In addition, Russia was forced to ban the export of its own gasoline for six months, starting from March 1, in order to prevent a sharp increase in domestic fuel prices.
True, difficulties at Russian oil refineries have eased somewhat since the operation of a unit at the Ryazan oil refinery has resumed, three sources told Reuters on Wednesday.
“Last year, the Kuibyshev plant was Russia’s 29th largest oil refinery in terms of production, accounting for 1.34% of the total oil refinery,” he said in the release.
Important
3.687 million tons of crude oil were processed in this facility. It produced 624,000 tons of gasoline (1.42% of the total production in Russia), 1,187 million tons of diesel fuel (1.35%) and 1,040 million tons of fuel oil (2.56%).
At the same time, Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov said last week that the forecast for oil refinery production in Russia for 2024 remains unchanged and is close to last year’s level (about 5.5 million barrels per day), Reuters writes.
Let us recall that on March 16, Ukrainian drones attacked the Syzran and Kuibyshev oil refineries in the Samara region. March 15 – Belgorod Refinery, March 14 – Refinery in Ryazan, March 13 – Refinery in Leningrad Region and oil products plant in Novoshakhtinsk, Rostov Region, March 12 – Lukoil oil depot in Kstovo, Nizhny Novgorod. On the days of the presidential elections in Russia, three more oil facilities were attacked by drones.
On March 28, the Moscow Times wrote that, according to Rosstat, fuel production fell by 7.4% in just one week, and the work of the enemy’s largest factories was almost paralyzed. The Kremlin even had to ask Belarus for help.
Source: Focus
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