Ukraine Hits Major Taneco Oil Refinery

Ukraine’s military attacked the large Taneco oil refinery and the ZapSibNeftekhim petrochemical plant deep inside Russia on Monday, adding to the pressure on the country’s downstream industry.

A fire broke out at Taneco in the city of Nizhnekamsk following an overnight attack that was designed to reduce Russia’s military potential, Ukraine’s General Staff said in a statement on Telegram. Nizhnekamsk is a major oil-refining and petrochemical hub located about 900 kilometers (560 miles) east of Moscow. The Taneco plant has a design capacity of more than 300,000 barrels a day.

Later on Monday, Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces attacked ZapSibNeftekhim, a major petrochemical facility in western Siberia, about 1,860 kilometers east of Moscow, causing a fire at the plant, the military unit said in a separate Telegram statement.  

Ukraine has intensified strikes on Russia’s oil-processing industry this month following a brief lull in the second half of July, which allowed refineries to carry out repairs and increase fuel supplies as the country grappled with widespread shortages. In a return to its earlier strategy, Kyiv’s forces attacked five Russian refineries last week alone, renewing pressure on domestic gasoline and diesel supplies.

Bloomberg couldn’t independently verify information about the strikes. Taneco’s owner, Tatneft PJSC, didn’t respond to a request for comment, while Russia’s largest petrochemical company Sibur Holding PJSC, which owns the Siberian plant, declined comment.

But satellite imagery taken Monday by NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System showed several relatively fresh heat anomalies at and in the vicinity of the petrochemical plant Nizhnekamskneftekhim, located next to Taneco. The anomalies may indicate fires, though industrial sites can also burn off gasses as part of their production processes. 

Sibur Holding, who also owns Nizhnekamskneftekhim, declined to comment.

The Monday imagery of the ZapSibNeftekhim facility taken by NASA FIRMS also indicates one relatively fresh heating anomaly near the plant.

Thirteen people, including a child, were killed and almost 40 were injured in the overnight attack on Nizhnekamsk, according to regional officials. Tass reported that 75 people sought medical assistance.

The large-scale drone assault targeted industrial facilities and residential areas, Nizhnekamsk Mayor Radmir Belyayev said on Telegram. He didn’t specify which facilities were hit nor the extent of the damage.

Nizhnekamsk’s refining and petrochemical facilities have been attacked several times previously. Most recently, Ukraine’s military said it struck the TAIF-NK refinery in early July. On July 31, Nizhnekamskneftekhim reported a fire without giving a cause.

Governor of Russia’s Tymen region, where the ZapSibNeftekhim plant is located, confirmed a fire at an unidentified industrial facility after a drone attack, without elaborating.