Russia managed to quickly repair some of its key refineries – Reuters

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Russia has managed to quickly repair some of the critical refineries that were hit by Ukrainian drones. Consequently, the capacity of Russian refineries idled due to the UAV attacks has been reduced to about 10% from almost 14% at the end of March.

Source: Reuters estimates

Details: It is estimated that Russia’s total primary refining capacity, which is idle due to UAV strikes, has been reduced to 90,500 tonnes per day (660,000 barrels per day) from about 123,800 tonnes per day (907,000 barrels per day) previously.

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There have been no reports of any successful attacks on Russia’s major refineries since the Taneko plant was struck on 2 April. Reuters stressed that Russia is quickly rebuilding its refineries despite difficulties in obtaining Western technologies.

This applies to the Rosneft-owned Ryazan refinery, which has resumed operations of the primary refining units CDU-4 and CDU-6. The Kuibyshev refinery has repaired units CDU-4 and Syzran’s CDU-5, along with the CDU-6 unit previously shut down for maintenance.

However, Russia’s cumulative primary oil refining capacity, out of service due to various shutdowns and maintenance, is expected to reach 4.4 million tonnes in April, up from 4.1 million tonnes in March.

Read also: “The burning shall continue”: What lies behind Ukraine’s attacks on Russia’s oil refineries, and how have they impacted the Kremlin?

Background:

• Forteinvest, the company which owns the Orsk refinery in Russia’s Orenburg Oblast (Orsknefteorgsintez), declared force majeure with respect to the supply of oil products from the refinery due to flooding.
• The Astrakhan Gas Processing Plant, owned by Russian gas company Gazprom, had to shut down production of petroleum products after undergoing repairs recently.
• Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia’s oil and gas industry became possible due to the UAVs’ increased range of flight and the employment of AI to recognise terrain and targets. At the same time, these drones are fully autonomous and do not require satellite communications.

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