Second Moscow refinery attack this week damages units, sparks fires

A second drone attack this week ​on Gazpromneft's Moscow refinery has damaged processing units and sparked ‌multiple fires across the site, industry sources said.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Thursday in a Telegram post that the region had been targeted in a large-scale ​drone raid and that several drones fell on the Moscow ​refinery, which previously came under attack on June 16, forcing ⁠a shutdown.

Sources said Thursday's attack damaged the Euro+ combined oil refining unit, ​commissioned in 2020 as part of the plant’s modernisation programme.

The unit includes ​a crude distillation section with nominal capacity of around 140,000 barrels per day - 47% of the refinery’s capacity - a catalytic reformer and a diesel hydrotreating unit.

In addition ​to Euro+, some secondary units, inter-unit pipelines and auxiliary equipment were ​damaged. Storage tanks containing oil products were also hit and caught fire.
Gazpromneft, which owns ‌the ⁠refinery, did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

In the June 16 attack, one of the Moscow refinery's two primary crude distillation units, CDU-6 - with normal capacity ​around 160,000 bpd, ​or 53% of ⁠the plant's capacity - was damaged and caught fire.

Sources said the plant had planned to restart the Euro+ ​unit midweek and process oil at around half capacity ​during repairs ⁠to CDU-6.

The refinery is in the southeastern part of Moscow and helps to supply fuel to Russia's capital.

-Reuters