Drones attack Russian oil refineries near the main oil port of Novorossiysk

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Drones attacked two oil refineries 40-50 miles (65-80 km) east of Russia’s largest oil export terminals on Wednesday, a Russian reported, starting a fire at one but causing no other damage. Officials.

Drone attacks deep inside Russia have intensified in recent weeks with strikes on Moscow, oil pipelines and even the Kremlin ahead of a Ukrainian counterattack.

Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said that a drone bombed at around 0100 GMT the Avipsky oil refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar region, causing a fire that was later extinguished.

The Afipsky refinery is located 50 miles east of the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, one of Russia’s most important oil export gateways. The plant can process about 6 million tons (44 million barrels) of oil each year.

Novorossiisk, together with the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), supplies about 1.5% of the world’s oil to the market.

Last year, CPC exported 58.7 million tons of oil through the South Ozereyevka terminal, mostly from Kazakhstan, while the Sheskharis terminal in Novorossiisk processed about 30 million tons of oil.

And the state-owned RIA news agency reported, citing local officials, that another drone had crashed at the Elsky refinery, which is located about 40 miles east of Novorossiysk.

According to the refinery’s website, the total capacity of the five processing units is 3 million tons per year.

There was no immediate information on who launched the drones, but Russia has accused Ukraine of increasing attacks on targets inside the country, including Moscow, on Tuesday.

Ukraine has almost never publicly claimed responsibility for attacks inside Russia or on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine.

Refineries across Russia have been repeatedly attacked by drones following the start of what the Kremlin described as a “special military operation” in Ukraine in February 2022.

Written by Jay Faulconbridge in Moscow and Lydia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Gareth Jones and Sharon Singleton

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