Drones Disabled Primary Oil Refining Units at Ryazan Oil Refinery

Satellite images show that drone strikes by the Ukrainian Defense Forces disabled two of the four primary oil refining units at the Ryazan Oil Refinery.

The satellite images were published by the Exilenova+ community.

The attack on the facility took place on the morning of July 29, simultaneously with a strike on the logistics center of the Russian marketplace Wildberries in Ryazan.

The Ryazan Oil Refinery is affiliated with Rosneft. It is one of Russia’s largest oil refineries, with a capacity of approximately 17 million metric tons of crude oil per year.

The plant’s area houses four primary oil refining units, as well as equipment for hydroprocessing vacuum gas oil, cracking, catalytic reforming, and other facilities.

The refinery produces all grades of automotive gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, fuel oil, liquefied gases, bitumen, and petrochemical feedstocks. The facility is the primary supplier of motor fuel to the regions surrounding the Russian capital.

Judging by the published images, the AVT-3 and AVT-4 primary oil refining units were hit and sustained significant damage due to a fire that broke out following the strike.

Together, AVT-3 and AVT-4 account for the primary refining of approximately 7.3 million metric tons of crude oil per year. This represents about 41% of the Ryazan Oil Refinery’s total primary refining capacity.

According to Reuters, the Ryazan Oil Refinery completely halted oil refining following an attack by Ukrainian drones on July 29.

Despite the complete shutdown of its refining capacity, the facility is currently continuing to ship and sell gasoline and diesel fuel from its existing stocks.

In 2024, the Ryazan Oil Refinery accounted for about 4.9% of Russia’s total oil refining volume, producing over 2.2 million metric tons of gasoline and 3.4 million metric tons of diesel fuel.

The Ukrainian Defense Forces successfully struck the facility for the first time on March 13, 2024. Since then, they have successfully attacked the plant at least 16 times.