Russia's Tuapse refinery halts operations after April 16 drone attack, Reuters reports
Illustrative photo: the Tuapse refinery has been hit by two major drone strikes (Getty Images)
The export-focused Tuapse oil refinery has almost entirely halted operations after a drone attack on April 16, Reuters reports.
The outlet's sources in Russia reported that the drone attacks on Tuapse on April 16 and 20 caused significant damage to port transport infrastructure. Oil product storage facilities also caught fire, and the blazes have not been brought under control.
Large-scale fires in the port made it impossible to load oil products, effectively halting refinery operations. Sources declined to specify even approximate timelines for resuming operations for security reasons.
The outlet noted that the Tuapse refinery has a processing capacity of about 12 million tons of oil per year, or roughly 240,000 barrels per day. It produces fuel oil, diesel, and vacuum gasoil, with most of its output intended exclusively for export.
On April 16, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) reported a strike on the Tuapse refinery and oil transport infrastructure at the port, carried out jointly with the Defense Forces.
On the night of April 20, Ukraine’s Defense Forces launched another strike on an oil terminal in Tuapse, hitting a tank farm and sparking a fire at the facility. According to the Center for Countering Disinformation, the fire was still ongoing as of April 21, indicating significant damage.
The attacks are not limited to Black Sea ports. A series of strikes on key oil terminals along the Baltic coast has already cost Russia nearly $1 billion in lost export revenue.
Due to Ukrainian strikes, Russia was forced to sharply cut oil production in April. Drone attacks on ports and refineries, along with the suspension of supplies via the Druzhba pipeline, have made it difficult to process and ship extracted oil.
