Russian gas processing plant stops production following drone attack, Reuters reports
The Astrakhan gas processing plant in southern Russia has stopped production following a fire at the facility caused by a drone attack, Reuters reported on Sept. 23, citing three industry sources.
Kyiv regularly strikes military and industrial infrastructure deep within Russia in an effort to diminish Moscow's fighting power as it continues to wage its war against Ukraine.
The facility is expected to resume production in several months or weeks following the blaze that engulfed a condensate production unit on Sept. 22, three industry sources said.
The damaged unit produced gas and diesel and had a capacity of 3 million metric tons per year. Sales of wholesale fuel parcels from the plant were already canceled on the St. Petersburg commodity exchange on Sept. 22 following the drone attack, Reuters reported.
The plant is owned by Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom. Astrakhan is located about 647 kilometers (402 miles) from Ukraine's border with Russia and about 816 kilometers (507 miles) from Ukrainian-controlled territory near Kostiantynivka, Donetsk Oblast.
Ukraine's drone strikes on Russian oil refineries have led Russian diesel exports to drop to levels not seen since 2020, the Financial Times reported on Sept. 23.
Disruptions have diminished Russia's refining capacity by over 1 million barrels per day, the research group Energy Aspects told the Financial Times, dropping export levels to below pre-war quantities.
Overnight on Sept. 23, Ukraine struck the 8-N linear production dispatching station near the village of Naitopovichi in Russia's Bryansk Oblast, Ukraine's General Staff reported.
On Sept. 19, Ukrainian long-range drones struck various oil pumping stations in Russia, prompting several plants to stop work, a source in Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) told the Kyiv Independent.
