Watch: Fire Breaks Out At Russian Fuel Terminal After Ukrainian Drone Attack

Russian energy firm Novatek declared on Sunday that it had been compelled to suspend some of its operations at a large Baltic Sea fuel export facility owing to a fire that was started by what Ukraine media stated to have been a drone attack. The Ust-Luga facility on the Gulf of Finland, about 170 km west of St. Petersburg, is used for shipping oil and gas items to international markets. It processes stable gas condensate, a type of light oil, into kerosene, heavy and light naphtha, and diesel to be shipped by sea.

It was unclear how long the disruption would last, how many tankers would have to idle outside the port, and what the knock-on effect would be on international energy markets. Critical infrastructural facilities in the Leningrad region were on high alert, with security units and law enforcement agencies ordered to impair the drones detected, the regional administration mentioned on Telegram.

Based on reports from the Interfax-Ukraine news agency, the fire was caused by an exclusive mission conducted by Ukraine’s security forces. The Ust-Luga Oil complex is a critical facility for the country’s enemy. Fuel gets refined there, which is supplied to Russia’s troops, it cited one source as saying. An effective strike on such a terminal damages the enemy’s economy, making the Russian military’s fuel logistics much more difficult.

Reuters was unable to verify if the attack was carried out via a Ukrainian drone. If it did, this attack would reflect Kyiv’s ability to carry out strikes deeper than usual (into Russia) using what are believed to be drones domestically produced at a time when it’s on the defensive on the war field and struggling to secure as much Western financing as it seeks.

Such an attack, the most recent in a spate of apparent strikes in recent days exclusively targeting Russian energy facilities, would raise questions about Russia’s air defence systems’ quality related to critical infrastructure facilities. The incident, along with what Russia states to have been a Ukrainian artillery strike on the civilians in a Russian-held city based in eastern Ukraine that left about 25 dead, could prompt broader retaliation from Russia in a war that reflects no sign of coming to an end.

Alexander Drozdenko, the governor of the Leningrad region, said on Telegram that there were zero casualties at the Ust-Luga terminal and that the workers were evacuated safely. According to several Russian news outlets, the fire had been contained, but two storage tanks and a pumping station had sustained damages. The largest producer of liquefied natural gas in Russia, Novatek, said in a statement that it had halted some activities following the incident, which it claimed was caused by “external influence.” To mitigate the effects, the technological procedure at Novatek-Ust-Luga has been halted, and an operational headquarters has also been established. The group stated that a damage assessment would be done later.

According to Shot, the residents had heard multiple explosions after hearing a drone operate in the region. Ukraine and Russia have long targeted one another’s energy infrastructure in strikes that have been designed to disrupt the supply lines as well as logistics, each side looking to demoralize the other one continuously. On Friday, a drone attack had hit an oil depot in the region of Bryansk that borders Ukraine, for which Moscow had been blaming Kyiv. That took place a day after an attack on a Baltic-Sea-based oil terminal that the Russian officials mentioned was unsuccessful.

Baza, a news outlet in Russia known for its security services contacts, posted on Sunday on Telegram of flames shooting into the sky over what seemed to be an industrial complex. Three international tanker vessels had been anchored close to the Ust-Luga terminal, even though there were no reports of damages caused to them owing to the fire, the Fontanka outlet said. A “high alert regime” has been instituted, said Drozdenko, and officials have convened for an urgent meeting. The most recent data shows that Novatek, at the facility, had processed 3.4 million tons of stable gas condensate during the first half of last year, an increase of 0.6% over the same time the previous year.

Reference: The Daily Star

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