Lukoil’s largest refinery has halted oil processing after a Ukrainian drone attack, Reuters reports, citing two industry sources.
The facility in question is the Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez refinery, known as NORSI. It is Lukoil’s largest refinery, the fourth-largest in Russia by capacity and the country’s second-largest gasoline producer.
According to Reuters’ sources, the refinery was attacked on Wednesday. The AVT-5 primary processing unit, which accounts for about 25% of the facility’s capacity, was damaged.
From the same day, NORSI stopped selling wholesale batches of gasoline and diesel fuel on the St. Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange.
Reuters’ sources say the refinery plans to increase utilization of other units and gradually shift to operating without the damaged unit.
NORSI can process 15 million tons of oil a year and produce 5 million tons of gasoline. It is already the fifth Russian refinery to halt production in June.
On June 16, Gazprom Neft’s Moscow refinery stopped processing oil. According to Reuters’ sources, its repairs could drag on into 2027. Tatneft’s Taneco refinery in Nizhnekamsk has been idle since June 12, the Kuibyshev refinery stopped on June 10, and the Volgograd refinery on June 1.
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