Refinery utilization in the Russian Federation fell by 7.5% in the third week of March – Kommersant

The volume of loading of primary oil processing units at Russian refineries on March 14–20 amounted to 0.687 million tons per day, Reuters calculated based on data from its sources. The indicator decreased by 7.5% in the first half of the month. The decline comes amid drone attacks.

LUKOIL’s Nizhny Novgorod Refinery operates at an average load of 21.9 thousand tons per day – this is 64% of the pre-accident level, Rosneft’s Ryazan Refinery – 129 thousand tons per day (36%). Rosneft’s Syzran oil refinery reduced processing from 12.6 thousand tons to zero. The factories were damaged in attacks on March 12, 13 and 16 respectively.

The expected drop in the production of gasoline and diesel fuel at the three plants could total up to 5.8% and 6.6% of its production in Russia, writes Reuters. According to the agency, the reduction could be offset by other refineries that have sufficient capacity reserves to produce additional volumes of fuel during the low season.

According to Reuters, the accumulated emergency downtime of primary capacity by mid-March amounted to 3.5 million tons, which increased 10 times compared to the total disposal of capacity over the previous two years (0.352 million tons). The number of damaged primary treatment plants has tripled.

Russian refineries have been frequently attacked by drones since the beginning of the year. Head of the Russian Ministry of Energy Nikolay Shulginov saidthat the department will maintain plans for the volume of primary oil refining for 2024 at a level close to last year. In 2023, the volume of oil refining amounted to 275 million tons. Adjustments to repair schedules due to attacks on several Russian refineries are being discussed with oil companies.

About the impact of attacks on gasoline production – in the Kommersant publication “Drones are gathering over the refinery”.

Leonid Uvarchev