Due to the drone war, Russia is on the verge of a fuel crisis (VIDEO)

In Russia, weekly production of gasoline and diesel fuel continues to decline due to Ukrainian drone attacks on oil refineries.

According to Rosstat, during the week from March 18 to 24, Russian refineries produced 754.6 thousand tons of gasoline and 1.648 million tons of diesel. In the third week of March last year, 880 thousand tons of gasoline and 1.770 million tons of diesel fuel were produced, respectively. Thus, according to Rosstat, gasoline production in Russia by the end of March decreased in annual terms by 14%, and diesel fuel by seven percent.

Last week, Novaya Gazeta Europe estimated that by mid-March, the Armed Forces of Ukraine were able to put out of action approximately a sixth (16%) of Russian production of automobile fuel.

In March, facilities such as the Rosneft Ryazan oil refinery and the Lukoil plant in Kstovo in the Nizhny Novgorod region were attacked. Both are among the top 10 largest oil refineries in Russia and supply Moscow with gasoline. Their primary oil refining units were damaged; It was not reported how long the repairs would take. The Slavyansky oil refinery in the Krasnodar region and the Syzran and Kuibyshev oil refineries in the Samara region were also attacked.

According to Reuters, following a drone attack on the Kuibyshev oil refinery in the Samara region on March 23, which resulted in one of its two primary oil refining units being disabled, regarding 45 thousand more tons of gasoline and 55 thousand tons of gasoline were knocked out of the market in average monthly terms. diesel fuel.

In total, since the beginning of the year, 15 oil refineries have been attacked in 10 regions of Russia. Their total refining capacity is 192 million tons of oil per year, The Insider calculated.

Officially, Kiev did not claim responsibility for the attacks on Russian oil plants. The head of the international oil trader Gunvor Group, one of the major sellers of Russian oil before the invasion of Ukraine, Thorbjörn Tornqvist, in an interview with Bloomberg, said that Russia is losing up to 600 thousand barrels of refined oil per day from -for drone attacks on oil refineries.
Against this background, the agency writes, futures for diesel fuel have increased fourfold, and futures for gasoline have increased sixfold. Exports from Russia fell by several hundred thousand barrels per day, Törnqvist said.

The Financial Times, citing three sources, writes that Washington called on Kyiv to stop attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure. The United States draws attention to the fact that attacks on these facilities might lead to an increase in world oil prices and provoke retaliatory measures from Moscow regarding energy infrastructure.