"It is their turn now": Russia has already lost 37% of gasoline exports due to drone strikes on refineries

In January 2024, Russia lost 37% of gasoline exports and 23% of diesel exports. The disappointing statistics are attributed to drone attacks on large oil and gas infrastructure facilities of the aggressor country. Local experts are already comparing the situation to last year's attacks on the Ukrainian energy sector and say that now "it's Russia's turn."

This is reported by Russian media, citing data from the Russian Ministry of Energy. It is noted that "incidents" at Russian oil refineries have caused a significant decrease in the volume of oil products exported to foreign markets, which leads to a general decline in exports of leading oil companies.

Interestingly, the Russian Energy Ministry itself does not even indirectly deny the impact of the attacks on exports, although it does not directly acknowledge it. The Russian authorities claim that the reason for the collapse in exports was "unscheduled repairs" at oil refineries.

They also point to the need to provide fuel for the Russian domestic market. This makes sense, given that refinery shutdowns usually lead to fuel shortages. However, so far, the Russian Ministry of Energy has stated that despite the decline in exports, the domestic market has not faced any problems.

However, according to Carnegie Endowment for International Peace expert Sergey Vakulenko, continued attacks on refineries could lead to serious difficulties for the economy and defense capabilities of the aggressor country. "Russia tried to achieve something similar by attacking the Ukrainian electricity sector in the winter of 2022-2023. The target was vulnerable transformers of Ukrainian power plants, hoping that Ukraine would not be able to repair and replace them quickly enough... Now it's Russia's turn to be the target of similar attacks," Vakulenko said.

As a reminder, the series of attacks began with strikes on oil facilities, such as Rosneft and Novatek terminals in various regions of Russia. In Yaroslavl, an unmanned aerial vehicle crashed into the Slavneft-Yanos refinery.

As previously reported, the war is gradually moving to the territory of Russia, and this is an inevitable process that will only grow exponentially. Drones flying overhead and burning military and industrial facilities are becoming more and more commonplace, forcing ordinary Russians to pay attention to the war that many prefer to ignore.

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