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Russian Energy Infrastructure Hit by Coordinated Drone Strikes, Including Lukoil and Key Gas Plants

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Russian Energy Infrastructure Hit by Coordinated Drone Strikes, Including Lukoil and Key Gas Plants
A blaze at the Astrakhan gas processing plant, on January 3, 2025. (Source: Andrii Kovalenko)

Multiple attack drones targeted critical Russian energy infrastructure overnight, hitting the Lukoil oil refinery in Volgograd, the Astrakhan gas processing plant, and the Orenburg gas processing plant, the head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation, Andrii Kovalenko, reported on February 3.

“These facilities are key to Russia’s energy sector, processing gas condensate and producing gasoline, diesel fuel, and other essential products,” he stated.

The Orenburg gas processing plant plays a strategic role in refining natural gas and gas condensate. Its output includes natural gas, elemental sulfur, propane, butane, and liquefied gas mixtures—all vital components of Russia’s petrochemical industry.

Some of these materials have military applications, including fuel production and the manufacturing of chemical elements for military equipment.

Russian sources reported hearing over 50 explosions in the air, with claims that six to seven drones were shot down during the assault.

NASA’s FIRMS  confirmed the attack on the Lukoil oil refinery in Volgograd, detecting a fire at 1:26 am, further verifying reports of a successful strike.

Video footage enabled geolocation of the impact sites, identifying delayed coking units and processing unit No. 17 as primary targets.

The Lukoil-Volgogradneftepererabotka refinery is one of Russia’s largest oil processing plants and a major fuel supplier for southern Russia and CIS countries.

With an annual capacity of 15.7 million tons of oil, the refinery has received over $4 billion in investment, leading to the commissioning of 14 new production units and extensive modernization efforts. These upgrades have pushed its oil refining depth to 96.7%, making it one of the most advanced facilities in Russia.

Located 475 km from Ukraine’s border, the refinery is a crucial asset in Russia’s fuel and energy sector, which plays a key role in financing the country’s military-industrial complex.

Earlier, the Command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' Unmanned Systems confirmed the use of a long-range UAV capable of carrying a 250-kilogram bomb and reaching distances of up to 2,000 kilometers with the ability to return to strike targets deep inside Russian territory.

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Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) is a free web mapping platform offered by NASA as part of its Earth Science Data Systems (ESDS) Program. It displays active fire locations in near real-time overlaid on a map.