Drones Strike Oil Infrastructure Near Tuapse for Fourth Time in Two Weeks

On the night of May 1, Ukrainian drones targeted oil infrastructure in the Russian city of Tuapse, in Krasnodar Krai.

According to the regional operational headquarters, a fire broke out at a marine terminal after 2 a.m. as a result of the attack.

At least 128 personnel and 41 pieces of equipment, including teams from Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry, were involved in extinguishing the fire.

This was the fourth attack on oil infrastructure in Tuapse in the past two weeks.

The previous three Ukrainian drone strikes caused large-scale fires, including at a local oil refinery, and it took several days to extinguish them.

The first attack took place on April 16, followed by another on April 20. These strikes destroyed or damaged most of the storage tanks at the oil refinery.

The third strike, carried out by Ukraine’s Defense Forces on April 28, completely destroyed four additional large fuel storage tanks at the Tuapse refinery.

Complete burn-out of nearby infrastructure was also recorded, along with two smaller storage tanks.

Tuapse Oil Refinery

The oil refinery in Tuapse is considered one of the most technologically advanced facilities operated by Rosneft.

The facility can process up to 12 million tonnes of oil per year, with a refining depth of about 98%, which is considered very high. The plant produces Euro-5 diesel fuel, fuel oil, vacuum gas oil, and aviation fuel.

To support this level of processing, the total storage capacity for crude oil and petroleum products exceeds 1.5 million cubic meters.