Ukrainian Drone Attack Set Russia’s Tuapse Refinery on Fire

Bloomberg:  Rosneft PJSC’s major Tuapse refinery in southern Russia caught fire after a Ukrainian drone attack early Monday, regional authorities said.

“Infrastructure of the oil refinery in Tuapse was damaged as a result of falling drone debris,” the authorities said in a Telegram statement. The fire, which broke out on a territory of 50 square meters, was extinguished by 8:01 am local time, according to a separate statement.

Air defenses shot down eight drones around the city of Tuapse, Interfax reported. In total, 75 Ukrainian drones were intercepted and destroyed over Russian territory on Monday morning, the Defense Ministry said in a separate telegram statement.

This is the first successful Ukrainian attack on a major Russian refinery since mid-May, and it comes just as Russia’s oil-processing industry is on track to raise its runs to a six-month high to meet growing domestic fuel demand.

Analysts have forecast further growth of the nation’s oil-processing volumes through the end of August as well as capped seaborne crude exports. Yet if new waves of Ukrainian drone attacks are successful, Russian producers may need to redirect more crude to its ports amid emergency refinery repairs.

Oil refining is one of Russia’s most important industries and has been a target of Ukrainian drone attacks since late January. More than two years after Russia’s military invasion, the government in Kyiv is attempting to curb Moscow’s ability to finance the war and disrupt fuel supplies to front-line troops.

The Tuapse refinery with a nameplate capacity of about 240,000 barrels a day focuses on exports of diesel and fuel oil across the Black Sea, and has been a target of repeated drone attacks due to its relative proximity to the border with Ukraine.