Russian group Lukoil last week restarted a key production unit at its Volgograd refinery, the largest in southern Russia, which was shut down earlier this month after being damaged by a drone attack, two officials said. industry sources told Reuters on Monday.
The plant, which has a production capacity of around 300,000 barrels per day (bpd), caught fire on May 12 following a drone attack, local authorities said. The sources said the CDU-1 unit was damaged in the attack.
Lukoil did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ukraine does not officially confirm or deny attacks on oil refineries inside Russia, but it says the facilities are legitimate targets that contribute to the Russian war effort, while Russian strikes are falling on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
The Volgograd refinery was also attacked by drones in February and was able to carry out maintenance work within 18 days.
The CDU-1 unit has a capacity of 18,590 metric tons per day and an annual production of 6.5 million metric tons, or 130,000 bpd, of oil.
It represents 43% of refinery capacity and 49% of actual refinery processing in the first quarter of 2024. (Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Jan Harvey)
