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Russia’s Seventh-Largest Refinery Fully Stops Output After Ukrainian Drone Strike
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Russia’s Permnefteorgsintez oil refinery has halted crude processing and fuel production after a Ukrainian drone strike damaged key units and caused a fire, Reuters reported on May 13.
The Lukoil-owned facility, also known as PermNOS, is Russia’s seventh-largest refinery by processing volume, with an annual throughput of more than 12 million tons. The plant is located in Russia’s Perm region, roughly 1,460 kilometers east of Moscow.
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Reuters cited industry sources reporting that three primary distillation units, AVT-5, AVT-1, and AVT-2, were shut down on May 7. Together, the units account for roughly half of the plant’s capacity. A fourth unit, AVT-4, has been offline since April 30 following an earlier drone strike that caused a fire.
The refinery processed around 12.6 million tons of oil in 2024, equal to roughly 250,000 barrels per day. Last year, it produced about 2 million tons of gasoline, more than 5 million tons of diesel, 700,000 tons of coke, and 200,000 tons of fuel oil.
Lukoil did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment. Industry sources reported that repairs at the refinery could take several weeks, while local governor Dmitry Makhonin confirmed that drones had attacked industrial facilities in the region without naming the site.
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The Moscow Times reported that PermNOS is the ninth Russian refinery to suspend operations since the start of spring.
Other affected sites include Kirishinefteorgsintez in the Leningrad region, the Syzran, Novokuibyshevsk, Tuapse, Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez, and Saratov refineries.
The disruptions have pushed Russian refinery throughput to its lowest level since 2009, at 4.69 million barrels per day. That marks a 12% year-on-year decline and an almost 1 million-barrel-per-day drop from the pre-war 2021 baseline.
The latest suspension also adds to a broader chain of refinery shutdowns linked to Ukrainian drone strikes.
The Kirishi Oil Refinery in Russia’s Leningrad region stopped operations on May 5 after Ukrainian drone strikes damaged three of its four crude distillation units. The facility is Russia’s second-largest oil refinery and processed around 17.5 million tonnes of crude oil in 2024, accounting for 6.6% of the country’s refining capacity.
The strikes were carried out by the Security Service of Ukraine’s Alpha unit together with Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces and Unmanned Systems Forces, according to the SBU. The attack followed earlier Ukrainian strikes on the same facility, which had already disrupted its operations before the latest suspension.
Repair timelines were not specified in the provided source package, leaving the suspension duration unclear.
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