Ukraine Drone Damages Russia’s Largest Black Sea Refinery

The Tuapse oil refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar region, the biggest Russian crude processing facility on the Black Sea, was damaged in a massive Ukrainian drone attack overnight, Russian officials and Ukrainian intelligence sources said on Monday.  

Tuapse refinery, which has a capacity to process 240,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil, has been a target of several drone attacks from Ukraine since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.

Tuapse, owned by Russia’s top oil producer Rosneft, was damaged in an attack in January.

In May, the refinery was also halted in an emergency shutdown after a Ukrainian drone attack caused a fire at the facility.

Early on Monday local time, a drone attack on the Tuapse refinery was carried out by the Main Intelligence Directorate, HUR, of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense causing a fire at the facility, sources in the intelligence unit told Kyiv Post.

As a result of the drone attack, debris from the shot-down drones caused a fire at the refinery, Russian officials were quoted by Reuters as saying.

The debris from the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) damaged the infrastructure at the Tuapse refinery, the operational headquarters of Russia’s Krasnodar region said in a post on Telegram.

The fire has been contained, the region’s authorities said, adding that there are no casualties, according to preliminary information.

The Tuapse refinery mostly exports its production of naphtha, high-sulfur diesel, fuel oil, and vacuum gasoil to Turkey, China, Malaysia, and Singapore.

Ukraine continues to target refineries in Russia and some of these attacks have affected further product supply from Russian refineries. Combined with higher domestic fuel demand in the summer, Russia’s oil product shipments are estimated to have dropped in June compared to May.  

Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries and other energy infrastructure have become a fixture this year, with drones the weapon of choice for conducting the strikes.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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