Ukrainian drones struck both Rosneft’s Novokuybyshevsk and Slavneft’s Yaroslavl refineries over the past few days, threatening key Russian base oil capacity. The Novokuybyshevsk attack reportedly hit a diesel hydrotreater, while the Yaroslavl strike caused a fire, damaged infrastructure and injured two workers, the regional governor said.
Slavneft’s Yaroslavl refinery, jointly controlled by Rosneft and Gazprom Neft, has crude-processing capacity of 15 million metric tons per year and a 100,000 t/y API Group III base oil unit. The night raid on Nov. 3 followed attacks in August and September.
Novokuybyshevsk has been attacked repeatedly since March 2024, including in March and August 2025 and April, June and August this year. Industry sources said the August 2025 strike damaged a primary distillation unit and halted processing, while Russian reports said the April attack idled both the AVT-9 and AVT-11 crude units. The 8.8 million t/y refinery produces gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and petroleum coke and has 260,000 t/y of Group I base oil capacity.
The Friday raid opened a renewed weekend campaign against Russian energy assets. Reports indicated fires in Bashneft’s Ufa refinery zone Oct. 31, significant damage to industrial and utility infrastructure in Kstovo, home to a Lukoil’s refinery, on Nov. 1, and a fire at Transneft’s LPDS Samara oil-pumping station on Nov. 2.
Video from Novokuybyshevsk showed several large plumes of fire and smoke. Samara’s governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev confirmed a drone attack in the region but did not name the target or describe damage. Ukrainian drone maker Fire Point said multiple drones hit the refinery, including its diesel hydrotreating unit. The claims could not be independently verified.
The nearby Novokuybyshevsk Oils and Additives Plant can produce more than 465,000 t/y of finished lubricants, additives and specialty products. Rosneft says the refinery supplies it with hydrocarbon feedstock.
Russian official statements and available local reports did not mention damage to the oils and additives plant. There is no public evidence that the Oct. 30 attack directly affected base oil or finished-lubricant production. A prolonged refinery outage would disrupt feedstock flows to the lubricant plant and leave Russia’s supply of Group I base oils and finished lubricants exposed even if the separate lubricants facility remains intact.