A large refinery of Russian state oil giant Rosneft in southern Russia was damaged in a fire early on Thursday in a suspected Ukrainian drone attack, in the latest incident at Russian energy export infrastructure over the past week.
The 240,000 barrels-per-day refinery in Tuapse, southern Russia, was hit by a fire that was extinguished early on Thursday, local authorities said.
"The vacuum unit was on fire. According to preliminary information, there were neither casualties nor injured," Sergei Boiko, the head of the Tuapse district, wrote on Telegram, as carried by Reuters.
The Tuapse refinery mostly exports its production of naphtha, high-sulfur diesel, fuel oil, and vacuum gasoil to Turkey, China, Malaysia, and Singapore.
The fire was the result of a drone attack by the Ukrainian security service, a Ukrainian source told Reuters.
The SBU security service of Ukraine will continue to attack fuel facilities, according to the source.
"The SBU strikes deep into the Russian Federation and continues attacks on facilities which are not only important for the Russian economy, but also provide fuel for the enemy troops," the source told Reuters.
The drone attack at the Rosneft refinery in southern Russia took place days after another suspected drone attack this weekend forced Russia's gas firm Novatek to suspend operations at a Baltic Sea fuel export terminal.
As of Tuesday, Russia's Ust-Luga port on the Baltic Sea continued to ship crude and fuels for exports, although Novatek's fuel export terminal remained shut after reportedly being hit by a drone attack.
The terminal operated by Novatek remains shut, but the other terminals, including one for crude oil exports and two other fuel export terminals, were operational as of Tuesday, Reuters reported, citing industry sources and LSEG data.
Ust-Luga is one of the key export hubs for Russian crude oil and fuels.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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