Drone Strike Halts Oil Processing in Western Siberia

The Tyumen oil refinery in western Siberia stopped operations after a reported Ukrainian drone attack. This could exacerbate existing fuel shortages in Russia, amid growing tensions with Ukraine. The attack resulted in a fire, impacting key production units, with no clarity on resumption of operations.

A Ukrainian drone attack has disrupted operations at Russia's Tyumen oil refinery, a major facility in western Siberia, two industry sources revealed. Any halt in output could worsen Russia's domestic fuel shortages, which have been intensifying following increased attacks on refineries since May by Ukraine.

Local authorities confirmed that the drone strike ignited a fire at the refinery, which lies more than 2,000 kilometers from Ukraine. Affected were a diesel hydrotreater and a high-octane gasoline production unit. The timeline for the refinery's return to full operations remains uncertain.

RI-Invest owns the refinery that has the capacity to process around 9 million metric tons of crude per year. Despite requests, RI-Invest has yet to comment on the incident, which has cut off the production of significant quantities of gasoline and diesel.