Ukrainian drone attacks paralyze oil refining in Russia – Reuters
Since the beginning of the year, Ukrainian drones have struck at least 16 Russian oil refineries, leading to reduced refining capacity, lower exports of petroleum products, and additional pressure on Russia’s oil revenues.
This was reported by Reuters, as cited by Ukrinform.
According to the outlet’s calculations, Ukrainian drones attacked 16 Russian refineries between January and May this year (some of them more than once), taking offline refining capacity of about 700,000 barrels per day. In 2025, only eight refineries were attacked during the same period.
In March, the capacity of the affected primary refining units reached nearly 1 million barrels per day, and again exceeded that level in April.
The attacks, which also affected pipelines and storage facilities, have led to a reduction in Russia’s oil output – the world’s third largest after the United States and Saudi Arabia – intensifying pressure on Moscow’s federal budget, where oil and gas taxes account for roughly a quarter of revenues.
Overall, since January, 35 primary distillation units with a total capacity of more than 390,000 metric tons per day (or 2.85 million barrels per day) have been taken offline due to drone damage or related disruptions.
In January–May 2025, 12 units with a capacity of over 187,000 tons per day (or 1.37 million barrels per day) were shut down.
Among the affected facilities are major refineries in Kirishi, Nizhny Novgorod, Perm, and Tuapse.
According to industry sources, taking into account repeated strikes, more than 40 cases of shutdowns of key units linked to external impacts have been recorded this year.
Amid these attacks, the International Energy Agency reported that Russia’s oil product exports in April fell by 340,000 barrels per day compared to March, reaching 2.2 million barrels per day – the lowest level on record.
As previously reported by Ukrinform, Russia’s crude oil production in April fell by 460,000 barrels per day compared to the same period last year, to about 8.8 million barrels per day.
Illustrative photo: Armyinform.com.ua