SSU Drones Set Fire to Russian Oil Platforms in the Caspian Sea

Long-range drones of the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) Alpha Special Operations Center have successfully attacked Russian oil platforms in the Caspian Sea for the second time in a week.

This was reported by RBC-Ukraine, citing sources in the Security Service of Ukraine.

Long-range attack drones of the SSU’s Alpha Special Operations Center successfully attacked an oil platform at the Filanovsky field for the second time this week. In addition, another platform at the Korchagin field was hit.

Both facilities belong to Lukoil-Nizhnevolzhskneft and operate in the northern part of the Caspian Sea.

According to preliminary information, the SSU drones damaged critical equipment on both ice-resistant platforms, which led to the suspension of production processes.

“The Security Service of Ukraine continues its systematic work aimed at reducing the Russian budget revenues from the oil and gas sector. The frequency, geography, and accuracy of the strikes are a signal to Russia that as long as its aggression continues, the ‘cotton’ (shelling of Russian assets – ed.) will be burning at all Russian facilities working for the war,” an SSU source said.

The Filanovsky field is one of the largest explored fields in Russia and in the Russian sector of the Caspian Sea. Its reserves are estimated at 129 million tons of oil and 30 billion cubic meters of gas.

On August 4, 2016, the first oil was produced during the drilling of the first well at the field, and two years later, production reached the design level of 6 million tons of oil per year. The field’s oil is characterized by high quality and low sulfur content.

The infrastructure of the Filanovsky field provides a significant synergistic effect for the company’s other Caspian projects. In particular, the products of the V. Greifer and Y. Kuvykin fields are planned to be sent for processing to the central processing platform of the Filanovsky field and then exported through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) system.

The Korchagin field, discovered in 2000, was the first field launched by Lukoil in the Caspian Sea. Production at the field began in 2010.

The field’s reserves by category are estimated at 77.8 million tons of oil. The maximum level of oil and gas condensate production is 2.3 million tons per year, and gas production is 1.2 billion cubic meters per year.

The defense forces did not limit themselves to SSU strikes on Russian oil platforms in the Caspian Sea. In the course of the operation, the Special Operations Forces of Ukraine, in cooperation with the Russian Black Spark resistance movement, hit two Russian vessels in the Caspian Sea that were transporting weapons from Iran.