Russia’s Saratov oil refinery stopped on November 11 after drone attacks, sources say

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MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia’s Saratov oil refinery on the Volga river stopped primary oil refining on November 11 following Ukrainian drone attacks, two industry sources told Reuters on Friday.

According to the sources, the plant could remain halted until the end of the month.

Ukraine has ramped up drone attacks deep inside Russia, aiming to knock out oil refineries, depots and pipelines and cripple Moscow’s biggest source of funding for the war in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s military reported on Tuesday about strikes on the Saratov oil refinery. It said the attacks caused explosions and a large fire in the area around the site.

The plant was also hit on Friday.

The governor of the Saratov region said that drone attacks had damaged civilian infrastructure earlier on Friday.

According to the sources and a video, posted on social media and purporting to show the attacks on the refinery, a large reservoir caught fire at the plant.

Rosneft, which controls the plant, did not reply to a request for comment.

The sources said the crude distillation unit, CDU-6, the plant’s single primary processing unit, could be damaged by the strikes. Its nameplate daily capacity stands at around 20,000 metric tons, or 147,000 barrels of oil.

In 2024, the Saratov refinery processed 5.8 million tons of oil, accounting for around 2.2% of Russia’s total oil processing. It produced 1.9 million tons of diesel, 1.2 million tons of gasoline and 1 million tons of fuel oil.

(Reporting by Reuters, Editing by Louise Heavens)