Russia’s idle oil refining capacity in September seen up 34% vs August, data shows


*An employee looks out over the illuminated petroleum cracking complex at the Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez oil refinery, operated by OAO Lukoil, in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2014. (Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg via Getty Images.)

Moscow — Russia’s offline primary oil refining capacity in September is set to jump 34% from August, according to Reuters calculations based on data from industry sources, owing to technical outages, Ukrainian drone attacks and seasonal maintenance.

Offline capacity is seen at 3.87 million metric tons this month, or 14.5% of Russia’s total oil refining capabilities. That is up from 2.95 million tons in August.

An increase in idle refining capacity usually facilitates crude oil exports. Market sources told Reuters on Thursday that Russia’s crude oil loading plan from the Baltic ports of Primorsk and Ust-Luga for September was revised higher by 0.2 million tons to 6.2 million tons.

In the latest attack on Russian energy facilities, a Ukrainian drone this month hit a Moscow oil refinery controlled by Gazprom Neft

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil infrastructure had minimal impact thanks to the work of air defence units and other defensive measures.

Going by a current maintenance schedule, the country’s offline primary oil refining capacity in October would fall by 37% from September to 2.42 million tons. The schedule is subject to change.

Total cumulative idle primary oil capacity in Russia for January to September has reached 32 million tons, up 23% from the same period last year.

Reporting by Reuters Editing by Mark Potter and David Goodman – Reuters



This article was originally posted at sweetcrudereports.com

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