Sources say that the Russian refinery in Saratov has stopped operations following a drone attack by Ukraine.

Two industry sources report that the Russian refinery in Saratov halted processing crude oil on August 2 following a Ukrainian drone attack which damaged production equipment and caused fires at the plant.

Roman Busargin said that drones attacked his region on Sunday, causing damage to civilian infrastructure within the city of Saratov. He did not identify which facilities were affected.

Two industry sources claim that the refinery's CDU-6 unit for crude distillation, the only unit in the refinery to process crude, was shut down after the Ukrainian strike. The unit's nominal capacity is 20,000 metric tonnes of oil per day.

According to sources, it could take two to three weeks for the CDU-6 unit to be repaired.

Rosneft has not responded to our request for a comment.

The data from the St. Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange showed that fuel sales at the Saratov refinery fell'sharply' to minimal levels on August 3, and then were suspended August 4 and 5.

On July 8, the refinery was hit by a?drone?attack, which caused a suspension in crude processing. Participants on the market said that the plant was back in operation within a week.

Saratov refinery is expected to process 5.8 million tons of crude oil by 2024, according to industry sources. The refinery produced 1.2 million tons gasoline, 1.9 millions tons diesel fuel, and 1.0million tons fuel oil in the past year. Reporting by

(source: Reuters)