Fire Broke Out at Oil Terminal in Novorossiysk Following Strike by Ukrainian Drones

Ukrainian strike drones attacked the Grushova oil terminal in Novorossiysk.

An abnormal rise in temperatures at the terminal was recorded by NASA’s FIRMS service.

Prior to the attack, as early as 7:06 p.m. on May 22, Russian authorities had declared an air raid alert in the region due to the threat of drones.

However, according to the US service, satellites detected the fire at the terminal only at 2:48 a.m.

In addition to satellite monitoring, some local residents noticed a glow on the horizon in the direction of the Grushova oil terminal, confirming the successful attack on the facility.

The facility is located at coordinates 44.74903 37.87853. The facility is of strategic importance, as it is one of the largest and most important centers of oil infrastructure in the Caucasus and southern Russia.

The complex is located in a mountainous area (Grushova Balka) a few kilometers from the coast of the Tsemesskaya Bay.

The Grushova oil depot and the Sheshkharis marine terminal, located directly on the coast, form a single technological facility—the Sheshkharis Transshipment Complex.

The site’s total storage capacity is approximately 1.2–1.25 million cubic meters of oil and petroleum products, with 40–47 tanks currently in operation.

Earlier, Militarnyi reported that on April 6, strike drones of the Ukrainian Defense Forces attacked the Sheshkharis oil terminal in the city of Novorossiysk, Krasnodar Krai.

Key infrastructure was hit: systems for measuring oil volume and quality indicators, as well as control valves that perform commercial metering and precise regulation of oil flows between loading berths.

In addition, on May 17, 2024, two oil depots and two terminals were damaged as a result of a nighttime attack by strike drones on Novorossiysk. At that time, it was reported that the Gazprom oil depot in the village of Kirilovka and the Grushova Balka oil depot, owned by Transneft, had been hit.