Ukraine hit a refinery in Russia’s Bashkortostan area in a single day in a drone assault that sparked a hearth, as Kyiv continues to pound Russian power infrastructure to scale back Russian gas provide.
One of many refineries in Ufa, within the Bashkortostan republic, caught hearth on account of the assault, the area’s governor Radiy Khabirov said on Wednesday.
Ufa and the realm round it host three refineries, all owned and operated by Bashneft, a unit of Russia’s largest oil firm Rosneft.
The Ukrainian assault in a single day brought on “a small hearth at one of many oil refineries,” Khabirov stated in a social media publish quoted by Bloomberg, including that “the extent of the injury is being assessed.”
Repairs are anticipated inside a number of days, in response to the Russian official.
For a number of months, Ukraine has been focusing on Russian oil refineries in nearly-daily drone assaults to drive Putin into peace negotiations whereas crippling Russia’s gas provide to the frontline and home fuel stations.
Final week, Ukraine additionally attacked Ust-Luga, the highest Russian port for exports of oil and different commodities from the Baltic Sea.
This was not the primary Ukrainian drone assault on Ust-Luga, which is a key export port for Russia’s crude oil, gas, coal, fertilizers, and grain shipments. The earlier assault was in early July.
Ukraine has intensified drone strikes on Russian power infrastructure this yr, focusing on refineries, Russia-linked tankers within the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, and provide routes, in a bid to chop Russia’s power export revenues and gas provide.
Russia’s diesel and gasoil exports crashed within the first seven days of August to simply 80,000 barrels per day (bpd), the lowest in many years, as Moscow prolonged restrictions on diesel exports amid a gas disaster triggered by incessant Ukrainian assaults on Russian refineries.
Amid peak demand season, Russia has been affected by gasoline and diesel shortages for over three months, as Ukraine’s drone marketing campaign to strike Russian refineries pressured many massive processing websites offline within the spring and summer time.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
