AFU Strikes Disable A Quarter Of Russia's Oil Refining Capacity

Which yields 16% of gasoline.

Over the past two months, the Ukrainian army has launched dozens of strikes against Russian oil infrastructure. According to Novaya Gazeta Europe calculations, drones have disabled refineries or installations that refine about 62 million tons of oil and produce about 6.5 million tons of gasoline in annual terms - almost a sixth of the country's output.

Since the end of March, eight Russian refineries have been completely or partially shut down following AFU bombardments. Refining was stopped at the enterprises in Tuapse and Novokuibyshevsk (Rosneft), as well as at the Kirishi refinery of Surgutneftegaz and the Astrakhan gas processing plant of Gazprom (makes small amounts of gasoline). Rosneft's Syzran refinery, Rosneft's joint refinery with Gazpromneft in Yaroslavl, Lukoil's Perm refinery and Novatek's Ust-Luga refining complex were partially affected. However, the latter works only for export and does not produce gasoline.

"Nova-Europe" summarized the capacity of the plants of these enterprises that stopped working and came to the conclusion: about 23% of oil refining in Russia, which produce about 16% of gasoline, is out of operation.

"This looks serious and alarming for the market. It is flying into the refineries, and not weakly!" - said "Nova-Europe" co-owner of a regional network of gas stations, which is not part of any of the vertically integrated oil companies. He reminds that the surplus of gasoline production in Russia is no more than 9% (this is what is usually exported, which the authorities have banned since April to saturate the domestic market) - that is, the current bombardment threatens a full-fledged crisis.

"Refineries are bombed regularly, refining is falling, the season has started - demand is high," echoed another major trader and added that especially big problems now with the supply of AI-95. This week, the "Kommersant" edition also wrote about the fact that the market is starting to face fuel shortages, citing analysts and traders.

The owner of a regional network of filling stations explains the reasons for the beginning of the crisis. Gas station chains that are not part of major oil companies (which is about 40% of fuel sales in Russia) are finding it increasingly difficult to buy fuel on the St. Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange. "There is a severe shortage of all types of fuel on the exchange," the interlocutor said. The shortage is caused by the fact that large companies primarily supply fuel to their own networks of filling stations in the regions where they operate. "The affected plants and territories will not be left without fuel, on account of our volumes. This is traditional. Oil companies will provide for themselves, and we - as it turns out," the interlocutor said.

Bearing in mind that the bulk of refining capacities are located in the European part of Russia, problems may start in Western Siberia, where there is only one large refinery - Gazpromneft's Omsk refinery.

"The strikes on refineries and export infrastructure have already moved from the category of local failures to the category of macro-economically noticeable pressure on the system," Tatiana Mitrova, an expert at the Center for Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, told Nova Europe.

She points to statistics from the International Energy Agency (IEA), which confirms that the bombardment of ports and refineries limits the sales opportunities of companies, which have nowhere to send some of their raw material volumes. This has already led to the fact that in April 2026 to April 2025 oil production in Russia fell by a rather noticeable 5%, or 460 thousand barrels per day.

Even more severely affected exports of oil products - it fell to a historic low according to IEA statistics, to 2.15 million barrels per day after in 2025 it was on average at the level of 2.5 million barrels per day.

You can support the website Charter97.org

MULTI-CURRENCY ACCOUNT FOR ASSISTANCE:

Bank's name: Bank Millennium S.A.
Address: ul. Stanislawa Zaryna, 2A, 02-593, Warszawa
IBAN: PL97116022020000000216711123
SWIFT: BIGBPLPW
Name of the account holder: Fundacja “KARTA ‘97”
Purpose/title of payment: Donation for statuary aims

You can contact us by the e-mail charter97@gmail.com