Ukraine struck Lukoil's Volgograd refinery overnight on Friday, its ninth attack on a Russian refinery since the start of November. The refineries hit so far have a combined nameplate capacity of around 2.6 million barrels a day, while the International Energy Agency expects Ukrainian attacks to curtail Russia's oil processing through year-end.
Ukraine attacked Lukoil PJSC's Volgograd refinery overnight, causing a fire, according to Ukraine's General Staff. The strike came after the latest round of US-mediated peace talks between the two nations ended earlier this week.
The General Staff said the four primary processing units, a hydrotreatment unit, six storage tanks and a loading rack were damaged. Lukoil didn't immediately respond to a Bloomberg request for comment. Local governor Andrey Bocharov said drones attacked the southern industrial zone of Volgograd but didn't specify whether the plant was hit.
Nine Russian refineries attacked since the start of November
The Volgograd plant sits about 900 kilometers (560 miles) southeast of Moscow and has a nameplate capacity of about 300,000 barrels of crude oil a day. Since the start of November, Ukraine has attacked nine Russian refineries, including the Omsk facility, the nation's largest, according to a Bloomberg tally.
Together, those plants have a nameplate capacity of around 2.6 million barrels a day, Bloomberg calculations show. That is almost 40% of Russia's total crude-oil processing capacity, based on government data.
Not all of that capacity may be affected, however. Some Russian refineries continued to process crude at reduced runs after earlier drone strikes, and Russia has classified almost all oil-related data, which makes the damage hard to assess.
Fuel rationing returns in some regions
Kyiv resumed its refinery attacks in late October after an almost two-week pause that coincided with calls for calm from US President Donald Trump, who sought to bring down fuel prices before the midterm elections. The strikes aim to reduce the Kremlin's energy revenues that finance the war.
The repeated attacks are putting more pressure on Russia's refining, and some regions have already reintroduced fuel rationing. A similarly concentrated drone campaign in the summer forced Moscow to ban most exports of diesel, gasoline and jet fuel.
Earlier on Friday, the International Energy Agency said in its monthly outlook that Russia's oil-processing operations are set to be "severely curtailed" by Ukrainian attacks through year-end.
Source: Rigzone (Bloomberg)
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