Fires near oil facilities reported in two Russian cities after drone attacks
On the night of October 2, drones attacked industrial infrastructure in several regions of Russia at once. In Volgograd, after a series of explosions, a fire broke out in the area of a large oil refinery and chemical plant, and near Samara, one of the country's largest oil transportation stations was likely hit.
Volgograd Region Governor Andrei Bocharov confirmed a massive UAV attack specifically on the region's industrial infrastructure. He did not say which enterprises might have been damaged. According to him, during the attack, an apartment building in the Krasnoarmeysky district of Volgograd also caught fire, and one person was hospitalized. The fire in the residential building was localized.
Meanwhile, Astra, using geolocation and analysis of eyewitness videos, determined that a strong glow was visible from the area where the Volgograd Oil Refinery of Lukoil and the chemical plant Kaustik are located nearby. It is currently impossible to determine from the available footage exactly which object was burning.
The Volgograd Oil Refinery is one of the largest oil refining enterprises in Russia. Its capacity is estimated at about 15 million tons of oil per year. The plant produces gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel, fuel oil and bitumen.
The nearby Kaustik is a large chemical industry enterprise. According to Astra, part of its products has dual purposes and is used by the Russian military-industrial complex.
The Volgograd Oil Refinery has repeatedly been a target of attacks. In particular, after a strike on July 31, a large-scale fire occurred at the enterprise and the main primary oil processing units were damaged.
Almost simultaneously, explosions were heard in Samara Region as well. According to Astra's OSINT analysis, the fire that was recorded by local residents occurred on the territory of the Samara linear production and dispatch station - a major hub of the Transneft system. Officially, the Russian authorities did not confirm the damage to this facility at the time of the report.
On the territory of the station, which covers more than 200 hectares, there is a large tank farm - 71 tanks with a total capacity of more than 1.6 million cubic meters of oil. Two oil pumping stations and an oil blending unit also operate here.
Several trunk oil pipelines pass through the Samara LPDS, through which raw materials come from Western Siberia, Tatarstan, the Orenburg Region, and Kazakhstan. Thus, the station is an important hub for oil redistribution in the Russian pipeline system.
The monitoring channel Exilenova+ also geolocated the fire in Samara Region on the territory of this station. Before that, local residents reported loud explosions. Samara Mayor Ivan Noskov later announced a temporary halt to surface public transport, while the metro continued to operate as a shelter.
In addition, a missile alert was declared in Tatarstan in the morning. Airports in Kazan, Bugulma, and Nizhnekamsk temporarily suspended arrivals and departures.
Based on materials from: Astra
