Russia's Largest Oil Refinery Stops Processing After Ukraine’s 3,000-km Strike

Russia‘s largest oil refinery in Omsk, owned by Gazprom Neft, has reportedly halted operations following a Ukrainian drone strike on Monday, according to Reuters, citing two industry sources.

The refinery, located roughly 3,000 km (1,864 miles) from Ukraine, was hit on Monday in one of Kyiv’s deepest-reaching drone attacks of the war.

According to Reuters, the Omsk refinery processed 22 million metric tons of crude oil (about 440,000 barrels per day) in 2024 and produced approximately 5 million tons of gasoline and 8 million tons of diesel, making it one of Russia’s most important fuel production facilities.

“The halt in operations at the plant, which is Russia’s top producer of gasoline, is likely to exacerbate fuel shortages across the country,” the report said.

Anatoly Seryshev, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s envoy to the Siberian Federal District, confirmed that the refinery sustained damage.

“Facilities at the Omsk oil refinery were damaged as a result of Monday’s attack. No plant personnel were injured,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

Seryshev added that specialists were assessing the damage and carrying out restoration work but did not specify how the strike had affected refinery operations.

Gazprom Neft did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

According to Reuters’ sources, the attack damaged the CDU-10 crude distillation unit, which accounts for about 38% of the refinery’s processing capacity, or 24,580 metric tons of crude per day. The unit reportedly caught fire during the strike.

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According to exchange data, the refinery also suspended gasoline and diesel sales on the St. Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange starting Tuesday.

A second primary processing unit, CDU-11, which accounts for another 37% of the refinery’s capacity and can process 24,000 metric tons of crude per day, was also shut down, the sources said.

Although CDU-11 was not directly hit, damage to supporting infrastructure forced it offline. However, sources told Reuters that the unit, which entered service in 2023, could resume operations in the near future.

More damaged units

Other reports suggest that the refinery’s ELOU-AVT-11 crude processing unit was struck.

The Ukrainian monitoring Telegram channel Exilenova+, citing satellite imagery, reported on Tuesday that at least four drones struck the ELOU-AVT-11 unit, which processed about 8.6 million tons of oil annually.

The channel also reported damage to several process pipelines.

“No hits were recorded on the ELOU-AVT-10 unit. The plant most likely entered ‘scheduled repairs,’” the report said.

On Monday, the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces (SSO), General Staff, and Ukrainian monitoring channels all reported that the refinery’s ELOU-AVT-11 primary crude oil processing unit had been struck and damaged.

Exilenova+, however, reported that fires had broken out at both the AVT-10 and AVT-11 units.

The refinery also has two mothballed crude distillation units, CDU-7 and CDU-8, each with a daily capacity of 10,000 metric tons, which could theoretically be restarted, according to Reuters.

Gasoline sales halted in Omsk

After the attack, Omsk’s largest gas station chain, Topline, suspended gasoline sales to private customers, allowing only vehicles belonging to organizations with fuel cards to refuel.

According to the local outlet NGS55, gasoline sales to individuals were halted at all 53 Topline gas stations, with fuel price boards displaying zeros instead of prices, forcing motorists arriving at the stations to turn away.

The company told local outlet SuperOmsk that sales were temporarily suspended due to “a failure at the oil depot, which affected the operational shipment and logistics of fuel.”

Topline said specialists were working to resolve the issue and that gasoline sales to private customers would fully resume once operations at the oil depot had been stabilized. The company did not provide a timeline for restoring supplies.