Another oil depot attacked in Russia

Russian officials confirmed that Ukraine launched a series of drone attacks yesterday, targeting an oil depot situated in Russia’s Kursk region.

PHOTO: An oil refinery. Getty Images

The attacks ignited a fire at an oil depot located in the Vozy settlement of the Kursk region near the Russia-Ukraine border, acting governor of the Kursk region Alexey Smirnov said on the Telegram messaging app.

The Russian air defense system was able to shoot down twelve drones over the Kursk region, Smirnov said. The fire was later extinguished, he added.

The Ukrainian army has taken responsibility for the attack. "According to [Ukraine's] intelligence data, as a result of the attack a fire broke out at the enemy facility," the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on its official social media platform Facebook.

On 28 July, three fuel tanks caught fire after another drone attack in the same region’s Polevaya oil depot, Smirnov said. The Kursk region is known to be a key area of Russia’s energy infrastructure. It has been attacked several times in the past.

The constant shelling of Russian energy facilities by Ukrainian drones has disrupted the country’s oil refining capacity and added upward pressure on the price of Brent crude. Oil prices have found support following these attacks due to supply concerns in a global market already grappling with production cuts and other geopolitical conflicts.

Russian energy infrastructure is in focus

Ukraine has ramped up its airstrikes on Russian energy infrastructure and oil facilities to curb the Russian military's fuel supplies. Earlier this month, Ukraine launched a barrage of drones towards the Tuapse oil refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar region, which ignited a fire.

Other Russian energy infrastructure in regions like Volgograd, Afipsky, Ilsky, Kursk, Shebekino, Belgorod, Tambov, Tula, and Voronezh has also been attacked previously.

These attacks have disrupted product supply from Russian refineries. Coupled with a surge in domestic fuel demand during the summer, the leading OPEC+ producer’s oil product exports dropped by 4.2% in June compared to the previous month, according to a Reuters estimate.

By Aparupa Mazumder 

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