Two of the four units at the Ryazan Oil Refinery were damaged as a result of a UAV attack

A drone attack on Rosneft’s Ryazan oil refinery on March 13 led to a fire at two primary oil processing units, which account for 70% of the plant’s capacity. The extent of the damage is unclear. This refinery is one of the largest in central Russia. According to Kommersant’s interlocutors, if restoration takes a long time, Rosneft will have to look for a way to load the refinery with raw materials from other plants in order to maintain the volume of light oil products. However, the redistribution of fuel flows in Russia has already created logistical problems.

On the morning of March 13, four drones attacked the Ryazan oil refinery of Rosneft, as a result of which, according to emergency services, two primary oil refining units were hit. According to RIA Novosti, the burning area was 175 square meters. meters. Two people were injured during the attack. The Ryazan Refinery accounts for 5% of Russian oil refining, 6% of gasoline output and 4% of diesel fuel output.

Rosneft and the Ministry of Energy did not comment on the accident at the refinery. At the same time, the ministry reported on March 13 that “measures are being taken to ensure the necessary utilization of oil refining capacities while coordinating the actions of oil companies and Russian Railways.”

The FAS stated that the cost of fuel “in the retail segment is stable, wholesale (exchange) prices allow gas stations to operate on a break-even basis and prevent their increase directly at gas stations.”

Exchange fuel prices on March 13 grew up: the cost of AI-92 and AI-95 in the European part of Russia increased by 1.3% and 1.9%, to 48.2 thousand and 60.6 thousand rubles. per ton respectively. Summer diesel fuel rose in price by 1.6%, to 61.8 thousand rubles. per ton.

Also on March 13, the Novoshakhtinsky oil refinery in the Rostov region, which processes about 5 million tons of oil, was attacked. Factory was stopped, but then restarted. It does not produce commercial gasoline. The increasing frequency of drone attacks on Russian refineries has so far affected the simplest installations for which oil companies are able to find replacements.

According to information Reuters, which was confirmed by Kommersant’s interlocutor in the industry, at the Ryazan Refinery two of the four primary processing units were damaged – AVT-4 and AT-6, which account for about 70% of the plant’s total primary processing capacity.

In the first ten days of March, the Ryazan Refinery processed 38 thousand tons of oil per day, and on average in 2023 – about 35 thousand tons per day, which corresponds to processing 12.7 million tons per year. But the refinery has a relatively low yield of light petroleum products: in 2023, the plant produced only 2.8 million tons of gasoline and 3.6 million tons of diesel fuel. Therefore, a decrease in the total refining volume will not proportionally affect gasoline production.

The extent of damage to the installations is still unclear. Even if they are out of order, the utilization of other primary processing capacities will allow the plant to maintain the output of light petroleum products, although their volume will decrease. Theoretically, Rosneft could redirect naphtha and vacuum gas oil from its oil refineries in the Volga region and Bashkiria to the Ryazan refinery to load secondary processes.

According to Kommersant’s interlocutors, the Ryazan Oil Refinery has a separate rectification unit, which allows it to accept third-party naphtha. But the key problem is logistics, since there is already a shortage of tanks for petroleum products on the market, and their transportation has slowed down (see “Kommersant” dated March 5). In addition, according to Kommersant’s interlocutors, it will take some time to “adapt processes and equipment to external raw materials.”

Dmitry Kozlov