Bloomberg: "Rosneft" Faces A Double Blow
- 22.10.2026, 12:27
- 1,864
It's not just Ukrainian drones that are putting increasing pressure on the oil giant.
The Russian oil company Rosneft has faced a double blow: Ukrainian drones are increasingly attacking its oil refineries, and the large-scale Arctic project “Vostok Oil” is behind schedule and requires massive investments. Despite the launch of a new oil terminal, the company is finding it increasingly difficult to maintain production, repair damaged facilities, and develop new fields. This is reported by Bloomberg.
Last month, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin reported to Vladimir Putin that the first tanker had begun loading oil at the new Arctic terminal of the Vostok Oil project. Nearly $50 billion has been invested in the construction of large-scale infrastructure, including pipelines, storage tanks, and the port. Sechin stated that by 2030, the “Vostok Oil” project was expected to increase Russia’s current oil production by 10%. However, the actual results are still far from these plans.
“The development of the Vostok oil refinery is just one of the challenges facing Rosneft and the Russian oil industry,” said Viktor Kurilov, a senior analyst on Rystad Energy’s oil markets team .
Among other challenges is Ukraine’s sharply expanded campaign of drone strikes against Russia’s oil sector, which are gradually closing in on Vostok facilities and are constantly causing damage to oil refineries owned by Rosneft and other companies in the European part of Russia.
The project’s development has been complicated by the full-scale war against Ukraine. Foreign investors have pulled out of the project, and Western sanctions have hindered access to the technology and equipment needed to develop “Vostok” petroleum products and build specialized tankers capable of navigating Arctic waters.
Ukrainian drones are putting increasing pressure on Rosneft’s core business. Since the beginning of 2026, according to Bloomberg’s estimates, Ukraine has carried out at least 114 attacks on Russian oil refineries—more than twice as many as during the same period last year. The attacks have caused refining volumes at Russian refineries to reach a multi-year low, triggered fuel shortages, and forced Moscow to restrict exports of gasoline, diesel fuel, and jet fuel.
Rosneft operates 12 refineries, which account for about one-third of Russia’s refining capacity. Among the hardest-hit is the Ryazan refinery. The Syzran refinery has been shut down or operating at less than one-third of capacity for much of the past six months, while the Tuapse refinery has been out of operation since April.
Repairs are becoming increasingly expensive and are taking longer to complete. Due to sanctions, Rosneft is forced to use Russian substitutes and Chinese components, which sometimes take months to arrive. And protective structures made of containers, nets, and steel cables have proven ineffective against swarms of drones.
The company’s financial condition is also deteriorating. In the first half of 2026, its net profit fell by nearly 20%—to 200 billion rubles, or $2.4 billion. At the same time, the situation has improved somewhat due to rising prices for Russian Urals crude amid supply disruptions caused by the war in the Middle East. Its price, used to calculate taxes, exceeded $90 per barrel—more than double what it was at the beginning of the year. At the same time, Russian authorities are providing billions of rubles in subsidies to domestic fuel producers, including Rosneft.
Moscow is trying to secure a halt to Ukrainian attacks on energy infrastructure. On October 9, Putin reached an agreement with U.S. President Donald Trump to partially ease Russia’s ban on diesel fuel exports. Washington also put pressure on Ukraine, demanding that it stop striking oil refineries. However, the attempt to negotiate an energy truce quickly reached an impasse: Ukraine resumed its attacks, accusing Russia of continuing to strike Ukrainian energy facilities.
An additional risk for Vostok Oil is the expanding geographic scope of Ukrainian attacks. While in 2022 Ukrainian strikes reached targets approximately 650 km from the border, in July 2026 drones attacked the Omsk refinery in Western Siberia, 2,500 km away. Vostok Oil’s Arctic terminal is located another 800 km further away. But if the range of Ukrainian drone strikes continues to grow at the same pace as before, Vostok Oil could well find itself within striking distance within a few months.
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