Russian refinery operations recover in October as damaged core refineries restart production

(1) According to informed sources, the Moscow refinery that previously suffered a drone attack has resumed crude oil processing, and three other large refineries have increased their operating loads. Russia's crude oil processing volume in the first seven days of October rebounded to nearly 3.7 million barrels per day, an increase of about 120,000 barrels per day compared to the average of the last week of September. (2) The Moscow refinery under Gazprom Neft was attacked and shut down on September 20, but after resuming operations its weekly processing volume exceeded 100,000 barrels per day, reaching more than one third of its pre-attack capacity. (3) In terms of individual refineries, Rosneft’s Ryazan refinery and Lukoil’s NORSI (Nizhny Novgorod) refinery both saw processing capacity increases of more than 60%. The Yaroslavl refinery (Yanos), a joint venture between Rosneft and Gazprom Neft, also continued to increase its crude oil processing scale. (4) The resumption of refinery operations has raised expectations for an increase in Russia’s refined oil product supply and may impact the global supply and demand pattern for diesel and other refined oil products.