Russia's largest oil refinery suspends operations after Ukrainian strike - Reuters
Photo: Omsk Oil Refinery suspends operations (Getty Images)
The Ukrainian drone attack has shut down the Omsk Oil Refinery, the largest refinery in Russia, Reuters reports.
Extent of the damage and shutdown of production capacity
According to the outlet's sources, the drone strikes damaged the CDU-10 crude oil distillation unit. This facility accounts for about 38% of the refinery's total production capacity and can process more than 24,500 tonnes of crude oil per day.
Reuters sources added that the attack also forced the shutdown of another key unit, CDU-11, which provides 37% of the plant's capacity. The unit itself was not directly hit, but debris or the blast wave destroyed network connections required for its operation.
In theory, the Omsk refinery could try to offset some of the losses by restarting two older mothballed units, CDU-7 and CDU-8, each capable of processing 10,000 tonnes of crude oil per day.
Impact on Russia's fuel market
Journalists note that a complete shutdown of Russia's largest gasoline producer could deepen the fuel crisis on the domestic Russian market.
The Omsk refinery has already completely halted sales of gasoline and diesel fuel on the Saint Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange.
Last year, the refinery processed 22 million tonnes of crude oil (around 440,000 barrels per day), producing 5 million tonnes of gasoline and 8 million tonnes of diesel fuel.
Attack on the Omsk refinery
On July 6, Ukrainian defenders struck the Omsk Oil Refinery. The drones flew approximately 3,400 kilometers to reach the target.
According to preliminary reports, the attack damaged the ELOU-AVT-11 primary crude oil processing unit, which has an annual processing capacity of 8.4 million tonnes.
According to Ukraine's Special Operations Forces, the strike set a new distance record for a Ukrainian attack.
