Russia’s Largest Southern Oil Refinery Shuts Down After Ukrainian Drone Strike

Following a December 19 Ukrainian drone attack on the Novoshakhtinsk Oil Refinery, the largest refinery in southern Russia, the plant was forced to halt operations, The Moscow Times reported on December 20.

The refinery, located in the Rostov region with an annual processing capacity of 5.6 million tons of oil, suspended its two primary processing units following the attack.

The AVT-2,5-2 unit, responsible for 50% of the plant’s output and capable of processing 7,140 tons of crude oil daily, was severely damaged and taken offline. The attack also caused a fire in a fuel storage tank, leading to the shutdown of a second processing unit of similar capacity.

Built in 2009, the Novoshakhtinsk refinery was the first large-scale oil processing facility constructed from scratch in Russia in over 30 years. This marks the third time the refinery has halted operations this year due to drone attacks, following attacks in March and June.

Between January and December, Russian refineries lost 41.1 million tons of production capacity, representing a 13% drop, due to drone attacks and difficulties in sourcing repair technologies amid Western sanctions.

As of late May, the Russian Ministry of Energy stopped sharing operational data with Rosstat , and by August, all diesel production figures were similarly concealed.

Earlier, the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense reported that one-third of facilities supplying fuel to the Russian military have been damaged or rendered inoperable due to special operations carried out by Ukrainian forces.