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Think deep... to solve the mysteries of the sea. Ad for Union Oil Company - 1961.
Hostile drones have been winding their way across the Russian landscape this winter, striking refineries and related oil and gas infrastruct
Russia makes money primarily off of fossil fuels. It does have decent agricultural exports but those alone could not pay for Putin's war machine. So disrupting Russia's oil and gas industry is a way of reducing the country's revenue which allows it to conduct an illegal war of aggression.
Hostile drones have been winding their way across the Russian landscape this winter, striking refineries and related oil and gas infrastructure all the way from the Baltic Sea in the northwest to the Black Sea in the southwest. Drones attacked both the Ilsky and Afipsky refineries in Russia's Krasnodar region, east of occupied Crimea, on Feb. 9, less than a week after another refinery in Volgograd, the largest in southern Russia, was hit. Further attacks have struck other refineries and oil depots near the Ukrainian border, as well as much deeper into Russian territory. Though Ukraine does not typically confirm its actions outside its borders and Russia has not officially acknowledged drones were the cause of these incidents, media reports have identified Kyiv's hand in the attacks occurring with regularity as Moscow's invasion of Ukraine nears the two-year mark. Analysts say the drone attacks are demonstrating that oil and gas targets of economic significance are not out of reach, even far from the front lines of the war.
The late Sen. John McCain nailed it.
Late U.S. Senator John McCain once derisively described Russia as being "a gas station masquerading as a country" — a jibe underlining the critical importance of oil and gas products to Moscow. Indeed, Russia draws heavily on its resource reserves to support the state. The International Energy Agency says Russia's oil and gas export revenues accounted for 45 per cent of its federal budget in 2021.
Of course a lot of that fossil fuel money gets siphoned off by corrupt oligarchs who use it to purchase superyachts and expensive real estate in Western countries.
A January attack on a Novatek facility in Ust-Luga halted gas processing operations there for several weeks. The plant processes gas condensate into various fuel products that are exported to customers in Turkey and Asia, according to Reuters. Sergey Vakulenko, a former strategy executive at Gazprom Neft, a subsidiary of the larger Russian energy firm, believes the Ust-Luga episode may illustrate a bigger problem for Russia than a temporary disruption to production at a single facility. In a recent analysis published online, Vakulenko reasoned that if small drones can get all the way to Ust-Luga, which is hundreds of kilometres from the Ukrainian border, there are some 18 Russian refineries at risk of being targeted, and they account for more than half the country's refinery production. He's not the only analyst noticing this concern for Russia's refineries.
And because hundreds of thousands of competent Russians have (wisely) fled the country and others are being used as cannon fodder for Putin's war, it takes longer to repair facilities damaged by Ukraine.
And the fossil fuel industry mostly has to fend for itself.
Maxim Starchak, an independent expert on the Russian defence and nuclear industry, says regulations have been put in place to restrict drones from flying close to "the most significant fuel and energy sector facilities" and operators are using electronic warfare systems to defend against drone threats. But Starchak said Russian energy firms must foot the bill for expenses related to defence of their facilities. "Moscow will not specifically help," he said, noting Russian authorities may hold firms accountable for not putting measures in place to protect their facilities.
So that burden cuts down on revenue as it adds to the cost of doing business.
One thing Ukraine has been innovative at is drone technology. It's become one of the world's leaders at that.
As Ukraine continues to fight to repel Russian forces from its lands, its military leaders have signalled drones and related technology will be needed to win the war that seems to have no end in sight.
And Western countries find it easier to provide additional drones to Ukraine than to send tanks and cruise missiles.
So Russian convict troops can luxuriate in the ruins of Avdiivka while their oil refineries back home get blown up by Ukraine.
EDIT: Speaking of fuel, just saw this at NPR.
Putin's regime is 'running out of fuel,' a Russian opposition activist tells NPR
The systematic destruction of oil refineries in Putin's Russian Federation is the most terrible blow to the Kremlin over the past week. Local (seemingly) attacks begin to lead to macroeconomic consequences - a drop in the rate of fuel production, an increase in its prices. Of course, attacks by steel Valkyries on Putin’s refineries would have been much more difficult to organize without a developed underground, without partisan networks. Resistance networks within the country, along the empire’s extensive communications lines, near its most important economic hubs, are at least as important as military units solving problems at the front. Therefore, join the partisan movement. Or help him as much as you can. Get in touch via email [email protected] Let us move together towards our inevitable victory.
https://t.me/rospartizan/2240
Since it's so far from Ukraine I knew drone strikes had to be organized by underground network of Russians. Secret of course, best no one knows where exactly they're from or who they are.
Good job. Freedom has a common enemy.
Biden keeps slamming the U.S. fossil fuel industry for allegedly not expanding refining capability as he continues to hobble producers.
A dozen oil refineries in the U.S. exceeded the federal maximum level for average emissions of the highly toxic carcinogen benzene, in 2021.
Excerpt from this story from EcoWatch:
Last year, a dozen oil refineries in the U.S. exceeded the federal maximum level for average emissions of the highly toxic carcinogen benzene, according to a new report by the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP). Five of the refineries were in Texas, four in Louisiana, one in Indiana, one in Pennsylvania and one in the U.S. Virgin Islands, reported The Guardian.
About 6.1 million people in the U.S. live within three miles of an oil refinery, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EIP report stated that 129 oil refineries were operating in the U.S. last year, 118 of which reported benzene concentrations at or near the refinery site — an area known as the fenceline — to the EPA. Fenceline communities have minority and low-income populations that are almost twice that of the general population, according to the EPA. Difficult to detect leaks from pumps, valves and other sources are responsible for a considerable amount of the excess benzene emissions, The Guardian reported.
If the average yearly level of the highest measured concentrations of benzene at a refinery is over three micrograms per cubic meter — which includes almost half of the oil refineries — the EIP defines that as a “long-term potential health threat,” the report said. Action is required by the EPA if the average is over nine micrograms per cubic meter, which is considered “action level” benzene emission, reported The Guardian.
“If [facilities] can’t get their benzene below the action level, year after year, we really need to see enforcement from the EPA,” said executive director of the Environmental Integrity Project Eric Schaeffer, as The Guardian reported. “You need to start paying penalties when your fence-line levels persist.”
A massive fire and series of explosions rocked a South Philadelphia refinery complex, the largest on the East Coast, early Friday morning. T
You and i together would be a four-alarm fire in an oil refinery
Found this quote on Tumblr, don't know where it's from but I like it
