Russia’s Kirishi refinery halts largest unit after drone attack, sources say

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(Reuters) -The Kirishi oil refinery, one of Russia’s largest, has halted a crude distillation unit, CDU-6, its most productive unit, following a drone attack and subsequent fire on October 4, with its recovery expected to take about a month, two industry sources said on Monday.

The stoppage could lead to a small decline in oil product output, amid a fuel crisis in Russia, which is grappling with a shortage of some popular types of gasoline amid persistent attacks of Ukrainian drones on its energy infrastructure.

According to the sources, CDU-6 has a capacity of 8 million metric tons per year, or 160,000 barrels per day, accounting for around 40% of the plant’s total processing capacity.

They also said that the plant, controlled by Surgutneftegaz, is putting back into operation its other primary unit, which was damaged by drones in mid-September.

Surgutneftegaz did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The sources said the plant will work at 70% of its capacity during the CDU-6 maintenance thanks to the involvement of other units, which will exceed its nameplate capacities.

According to industry sources, the refinery processed 17.5 million tons of oil in 2024, which amounted to 6.6% of Russia’s total oil refining volumes.

It produced 2 million tons of gasoline, 7.1 million tons of diesel, 6.1 million tons of fuel oil and 600,000 tons of bitumen last year.

(Reporting by ReutersEditing by Tomasz Janowski)