Rosneft's Tuapse refinery damaged after suspected Ukrainian drone strike

A major fire broke out at Rosneft's 240,000 b/d Tuapse refinery on Russia's southern Black Sea coast early Jan. 25 following a new suspected Ukrainian drone strike.

The fire in the refinery's vacuum distillation unit broke out around midnight local time (2100 GMT) and was extinguished at 04:53 am, the regional Tuapse administration said in a statement. It added that there have been no casualties or injuries.

Rosneft was not immediately available for comment.

Unconfirmed local media reports showed videos of a major fire and reported sightings of drones by local citizens.

If confirmed, the drone strike would be the latest in a major push by Ukraine to hit fuel and energy-export facilities deep inside Russian territory.

Russian gas producer Novatek resumed docking tankers at its Ust-Luga condensate terminal on the Baltic Sea Jan. 24, according to tanker tracking data, three days after the complex was partially shut due to a fire from a suspected Ukrainian drone attack.

The suspected attack followed reported strikes targeting an oil product depot in Bryansk and an attempted drone attack on the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal in recent days, as Baltic Sea infrastructure appears to have increasingly become a target of the war effort.

Sustained attacks on Baltic Sea infrastructure would threaten one of Russia's more reliable arteries of energy supplies and sources of income, as Black Sea flows have been plagued by weather disruptions in recent weeks.