Drones Attack Oil Refinery in Nizhnekamsk

On the morning of August 20, drones attacked an oil refinery in Nizhnekamsk, in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russian Federation.

The incident was reported by the monitoring website Exilenova+.

Footage from eyewitnesses shows that Ukraine’s Defence Forces used FP-1 drones in the strike, which Russian air defenses attempted to shoot down.

The video captures one of the strikes on the facility’s premises, which is preliminarily identified as the TANECO oil refinery.

It is one of Russia’s newest and largest oil refineries. The facility is a strategic asset of the Tatneft group of companies and produces more than 20 types of high-quality products.

The plant produces automotive gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, base oils, marine fuel, and other petroleum products. Its crude oil refining depth reaches 99%.

In Tatarstan, an air raid alert over a drone threat was declared at around 3:30 a.m. Reports indicated a threat of attack, particularly against Nizhnekamsk.

The strikes on Russian oil refineries are aimed at reducing the production of fuel needed to support Russian troops and the economy. Damage to the equipment at such facilities leads to a reduction in oil refining and fuel shortages in the domestic market.

During yesterday’s attack, Ukrainian drones struck the key ELOU-AVT-6 unit at Russian Bashneft-UNPZ oil refinery.

It is used for desalting and primary fractionation of crude oil. Its capacity exceeds 6 million tons of crude oil per year.

During primary fractionation, crude oil is separated into fractions, including kerosene, gasoline, diesel fuel and fuel oil, which are subsequently processed at secondary refining units to produce various types of fuel.

Bashneft-UNPZ is the oldest of Ufa’s three oil refineries. The other two are Bashneft-Novoil and Bashneft-Ufaneftekhim. All three are part of the Russian oil company Rosneft. The facilities produce Euro-4 and Euro-5 automotive fuels, jet fuel, bitumen and petrochemical feedstocks.