Two more Russian refineries shut down after drone strikes – Reuters
Photo: drone attack on Tuapse (Russian media)
In Russia, two oil refineries owned by Rosneft have halted operations following drone attacks. The facilities affected are the Tuapse refinery and the Novokuibyshevsk refinery, Reuters reports.
According to Reuters sources, the Tuapse refinery — the only one on Russia’s Black Sea coast — stopped operations on April 16 after a drone attack on the port of Tuapse. A second strike on the facility occurred on April 20.
The attacks damaged port infrastructure and oil storage tanks. According to sources, smoke from the fire stretched about 300 km by Tuesday and reached Stavropol.
Due to the inability to ship products, the Tuapse refinery shut down its only primary oil processing unit with a capacity of 12 million tons per year.
According to sources, the Novokuibyshevsk refinery, with a capacity of 8.3 million tons per year, also halted operations on April 18. The facility was attacked on Saturday, after which both primary oil processing units — AVT-11 and AVT-9 — were taken offline. Last year, the refinery produced 1.1 million tons of gasoline, 1.6 million tons of diesel fuel, and 1.3 million tons of fuel oil.
Attacks on Tuapse and Novokuibyshevsk
As a reminder, on April 16, the SBU, together with Ukraine’s Defense Forces, carried out a successful operation targeting an oil refinery and transport infrastructure in the port of Tuapse.
Just days later, on the night of April 20, Ukrainian forces conducted another strike on the oil terminal in the same area. The attack directly hit storage tanks, causing a large-scale fire at the facility.
Smoke from the Tuapse fire stretched more than 300 km. This was recorded by NASA satellites, with images later published online.
The oil refinery in Russia’s Novokuibyshevsk was struck by drones on April 18.
After a series of eight explosions at the industrial site, a major fire broke out. Eyewitnesses shared footage showing thick smoke rising over the facility.
