Russia’s offline primary oil refining capacity is projected to rise by 34% in September compared to August, reaching 3.87 million metric tons, or 14.5% of the country’s total refining capabilities. This increase is attributed to technical outages, seasonal maintenance, and Ukrainian drone attacks.
In August, the offline capacity was 2.95 million tons. Typically, a rise in idle refining capacity can facilitate increased crude oil exports. Reports indicate that Russia has revised its crude oil loading plan for September from Baltic ports, increasing it by 0.2 million tons to a total of 6.2 million tons.
Recent drone strikes have targeted Russian energy infrastructure, including a Gazprom Neft-controlled refinery in Moscow. The Kremlin claims that these attacks have had minimal impact due to effective air defense measures.
Looking ahead, the maintenance schedule suggests that offline refining capacity will decrease by 37% in October, down to 2.42 million tons. Cumulatively, from January to September, Russia’s idle primary oil refining capacity has reached 32 million tons, marking a 23% increase from the same period last year.