Russia's Kuibyshev refinery completely shut down after drone attack
Russia's Kuibyshev oil refinery near the city of Samara on the Volga River halted all production due to problems caused by a Ukrainian drone attack last week.
This is reported by Reuters.
Earlier this week, industry sources reported that the Rosneft-owned Kuibyshev refinery shut down CDU-5, one of two primary processing units, taking half of its capacity out of service. One of the sources said that CDU-4 was not affected by the drone attack, but due to the technical connection with the damaged CDU-5, it could not operate without it.
According to the agency, the shutdown exacerbates the difficulties of the Russian oil refining sector, as the need for emergency repairs after numerous drone attacks has hampered supplies.
Reuters estimates that about 14% of Russia's refining capacity has been shut down by drone attacks, including the Kuibyshev refinery, and the country this month increased gasoline imports from neighboring Belarus to address possible fuel shortages.
Russia has also banned gasoline exports for six months, starting March 1, to try to prevent domestic fuel prices from rising.
However, the difficulties of Russia's refineries have eased somewhat, three sources told Reuters, as one unit at the Ryazan refinery, which is much larger than the Kuibyshev refinery, has resumed operations.
