Ukraine Says It Hit Novatek’s Refinery in Russia’s Ust-Luga
(Bloomberg) -- Ukraine said its military forces hit a major oil-processing plant in the Baltic port of Ust-Luga, the latest attack in Kyiv’s intensifying campaign against Russia’s energy infrastructure.
“Key elements of the oil refining plant and technological equipment were damaged” in the strike, the Main Directorate of Intelligence at Ukraine’s Defence Ministry said in a Telegram statement.
Bloomberg could not independently verify the statement. Russian gas producer Novatek PJSC, which owns the Ust-Luga facility, did not respond to a request for comments.
Ukraine has been carrying out near-daily attacks on Russia’s energy and port infrastructure in a bid to reduce the Kremlin’s commodity-export revenue and its ability to supply the domestic market with oil products. Attacks on Russia’s oil-processing facilities have hit a record, causing another wave of gasoline shortages across the nation.
The Ust-Luga facility produces naphtha, jet and marine fuel, as well as gasoil, from stable gas condensate, a liquid mixture of hydrocarbons. The plant has an annual processing capacity of around 8 million tons.
Amid tight domestic fuel supplies, Russia’s government over the weekend extended its ban on diesel exports through September, adding pressure to global supplies already strained by the Middle East conflict.
Ust-Luga, a key gateway for energy and commodity exports, loads crude oil and petroleum products as well as coal, fertilizers and grain. The port has been targeted in several Ukrainian attacks, most recently just weeks ago, when a strike damaged the Novatek plant. Earlier attacks on Ust-Luga’s oil terminals also caused temporary halts in loadings.
A total of 52 drones were downed over the coastal Leningrad region, with the attack causing a fire at the Ust-Luga port, local governor Alexander Drozdenko said in a Telegram statement on Tuesday morning, without specifying which facilities were affected. The fire has been extinguished, with no casualties, Drozdenko said in a separate statement later.
Attacks by Ukraine and Russia on each other’s facilities in the Black Sea also pushed wheat prices to a three-year high last week. The region accounts for about a quarter of global shipments.
(Updates first paragraph with statement from Ukraine)
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