One of Russia's largest oil refineries may remain shut down for another month, Reuters says

Russia's Kirishi oil refinery, struck by drones on 26 March, may resume operations at three of its four main units within a month.

Source: Reuters, citing sources

Details: Three of the four units account for about 60% of the refinery's total capacity.

Hovewer, the pace of recovery will depend on how quickly damaged Russian ports are able to resume oil shipments.

Repairs will allow the refinery to produce motor fuel, but exports will remain difficult due to recent drone attacks on Baltic Sea ports.

In 2024, the refinery produced 2 million tonnes of petrol, 7.1 million tonnes of diesel fuel, 6.1 million tonnes of fuel oil and 600,000 tonnes of bitumen.

Background:

• On the night of 25-26 March, drones attacked Russia's Leningrad Oblast, where the Kirishi refinery is located. Ukraine's General Staff confirmed the strike on the facility. The refinery subsequently halted operations completely.
• On the night of 24-25 March, Leningrad Oblast also came under a large-scale drone attack that caused a fire at the port of Ust-Luga.
• On 23 March, after another attack, Russian officials reported damage to a fuel storage tank and a fire at the port of Primorsk.
• As a result of these attacks, as well as the seizure of tankers and the shutdown of the Druzhba oil pipeline, Russia has lost more than 40% of its oil export capacity.

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