Russia’s state-owned oil pipeline monopoly Transneft has warned producers they may have to cut output after Ukrainian drone strikes damaged key export ports and refineries, three industry sources told Reuters on Sept. 16.

The warning comes as Ukraine intensifies strikes on Russian energy infrastructure in an effort to undermine the Kremlin’s war effort and revenues.

Ukrainian forces have targeted at least 10 refineries since last year, reducing Russia’s refining capacity by almost a fifth at one point, according to Reuters.

Transneft, which handles more than 80% of Russia’s crude output, has restricted firms’ ability to store oil in its pipelines and warned it may have to accept less oil if infrastructure sustains further damage, Reuters reported.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has described drone strikes on Russian energy assets as “the sanctions that work the fastest.” Kyiv maintains that oil facilities are legitimate military targets, as they finance and fuel Moscow’s war against Ukraine.

Russia’s oil and gas sector has long been its most important source of state revenue, providing between a third and half of the federal budget. The country has managed to redirect much of its crude to Asian buyers despite Western sanctions, but recurring drone strikes have forced suspensions, disrupted exports, and deepened domestic fuel shortages.

In the past week, Ukrainian drones struck Russia’s largest oil-loading port of Primorsk, temporarily halting operations, and hit the Kirishi refinery in Leningrad Oblast, one of the country’s biggest, with an annual processing capacity of 60 million tons.

The Kirishi site had previously been targeted in March, Ukraine’s military intelligence said.

From The Kyiv Independent - News from Ukraine, Eastern Europe via this RSS feed