2024-04-03 21:13:31
Ukraine shuts down part of its oil production
Attacks on Russia’s Achilles heel
Updated April 1, 2024Reading time: 3 min.
New Ukrainian attacks on the oil processing industry are apparently causing problems for Moscow. Kyiv has no plans to stop.
Ukrainian drones and missiles have repeatedly hit Russian oil refineries in recent months. Some even on Russian territory. Kiev wants to make it more difficult to supply fuel to Russian troops, but also weaken the Russian economy. This seems to have been so successful that Moscow is now asking its loyal ally Belarus for supplies.
The oil depots and fuel processing are currently one of the main targets. “We are systematically implementing a well-calculated strategy to reduce the economic potential of the Russian Federation,” a source in the Ukrainian secret service SBU told the news portal Ukrainska Pravda on Wednesday. “Our job is to deprive the enemy of resources.” Fuel supply and production is Russia’s Achilles heel. It is important for the war, but also for the inflow of oil revenues.
Ukraine is taking an increasingly targeted approach. Videos from Russian military bloggers are said to show how one of the Ukrainian drones hit a particularly important part of a refinery in Novokuybyshevsk with astonishing precision, thereby disrupting oil production. While the tank farms had previously been targets, according to a report in Merkur, Ukraine now appears to be focusing on interrupting fuel production.
This is said to have even sparked criticism from the USA. Washington is said to be concerned that this will drive up global oil prices, the Financial Times reported. But that didn’t impress Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj, even though he confirmed the information from the White House. The refineries are legitimate targets, he told the Washington Post.
“We used our drones. Nobody can tell us that we are not allowed to do that,” said Zelensky, emphasizing that Washington cannot restrict Ukraine’s use of weapons of its own production.
Ukrainian “Liutyi” drone can fly 1,000 kilometers
On March 17 alone, his air force flew to 12 installations, but according to Russian information, many drones were shot down. The focus is apparently on a drone that Ukraine developed itself. It’s called “Liutyi” and can apparently fly up to 1,000 kilometers. About 75 kilograms of explosives can be transported per device, reports the Ukrainian military website “Defense Express”. It is believed that the “Liutyi” attacked a steelworks in Lipetsk and an armaments complex in Taganrog, Russia, as well as several refineries.
According to calculations by the business news agency Bloomberg, 12 percent of oil processing plants were affected by the attacks. Rosstat, Russia’s state statistics service, said that in the week ending March 24, nationwide production of gasoline increased compared to the previous week, when production was 815,300 tons, according to US magazine Newsweek. fell by around 7.4 percent to 754,600 tons. Now even North Korea has to step in as a supplier.
Estimate: 14 percent of production capacity restricted
Since mid-March alone, Ukraine has attacked at least eight Russian oil refineries with drones. According to insiders, more than a fifth of the oil refined in Russia was processed at the affected locations last year. According to Russian information, some attacks were repelled, and after other attacks operations were only disrupted for a short time. But according to Reuters calculations, around 14 percent of refinery capacity is now paralyzed due to drone attacks.
Moscow depends on its oil exports and energy industry, which account for about 30 percent of the country’s budget revenue and are crucial to financing the war in Ukraine. According to Statista, Russia is the third largest oil producer in the world, accounting for more than 12 percent of global crude oil production. The Ukrainian attacks, but also Western sanctions, are causing problems for Moscow. At the beginning of March, gasoline exports were suspended for six months to stabilize prices in the country.