Russia’s Afipsky Refinery On Fire as Kyiv, Moscow Trade Attacks

A fire broke out at the Afipsky oil refinery in southern Russia after a drone attack, while fuel facilities in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa were hit as Moscow and Kyiv exchanged strikes overnight.

(Bloomberg) — A fire broke out at the Afipsky oil refinery in southern Russia after a drone attack, while fuel facilities in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa were hit as Moscow and Kyiv exchanged strikes overnight. Falling drone debris caused the blaze at the Afipsky plant, local emergency services said in a statement on Telegram on Tuesday.

Several residential buildings and railroad infrastructure were also damaged. The 180,000-barrel-a-day refinery has been the target of multiple Ukrainian drone attacks, most recently in early June. The Ukrainian military has not taken responsibility for the latest assault, but it’s been carrying out almost daily strikes on Russian energy assets in an effort to bring the Kremlin to the negotiating table.

As a result, Russian refining runs have dropped to the lowest in more than 21 years, according to EA Analytics, deepening a domestic fuel crunch and further squeezing the global market. Separately, falling drone debris caused multiple fires in an industrial area of Salavat in the Russian republic of Bashkortostan, according to the regional governor, Radiy Khabirov. Salavat is home to the Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat petrochemical and refining plant, which has an oil-processing capacity of 200,000 barrels a day.

Gazprom PJSC, which owns the facility, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Meanwhile, Russian forces attacked Ukraine’s Odesa region, striking infrastructure used to unload and store fuel and lubricants for the military at Pivdennyi port, Interfax reported, citing the Defense Ministry in Moscow. Pivdennyi is Ukraine’s largest deepwater Black Sea terminal and part of the Greater Odesa port cluster.

Before the war, it was the country’s biggest port by cargo turnover and a key hub for bulk and liquid-bulk cargoes.