Russia's Fuel Crisis: Drone Strikes Knock Out Quarter of Refining Capacity
Russia's fuel industry is grappling with its most severe crisis in decades, as Ukrainian drone strikes have significantly disrupted the country's refining capacity. Around 70% of the outages are directly attributed to these attacks, which have knocked out roughly one-quarter of Russia's total refining capacity.
By late September, nearly 38% of Russia's oil refining capacity was offline, amounting to around 338,000 tons of crude per day. This has led to a significant drop in gasoline and diesel output, plunging by 6% in August and another 18% in September. The impact on Russia's domestic fuel market has been severe, with gasoline output dropping by 1 million tons in September alone.
The fuel crunch is already feeding inflationary pressures, with wholesale fuel prices surging more than 40% since January. More than 20 regions across Russia are now facing fuel shortages, with the Far East and occupied Crimea being the hardest hit. Four major refineries were forced to halt operations after drone attacks in September. These include the 'Baschneft' refinery in Bashkortostan on September 13, the Novo-Ufa refinery around September 13-14, the Volgograd refinery around September 18, the Afipsky refinery in Krasnodar confirmed on September 26, and an oil pump station in the Chuvashia region on September 27.
Moscow has been forced to confront this worsening energy crisis. In response, it has banned gasoline exports and moved to secure emergency imports to contain the situation. The long-term effects of these disruptions on Russia's economy and energy security remain to be seen.
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