Russia's Tuapse oil refinery suspends processing due to low margins
Rosneft's Black Sea oil refinery in Tuapse has suspended processing since Oct. 1 due to low margins on refined fuels. The plant, one of Russia's biggest Black Sea refineries, is technically able to operate, but will remain idle in October amid low profitability for exports of refined fuels compared to crude, traders added.
The shutdown of the Tuapse refinery means Russian oil product exports from the Black Sea port of Tuapse are set to fall in October by 69% month-on-month to 0.312 million metric tons, traders said.
Margins on refined fuels have fallen due to high prices, huge production volumes and a seasonal fall in demand.
The export-oriented Tuapse plant, which has processing capacity of 240,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil, produces naphtha, fuel oil, vacuum gasoil and high-sulfur diesel, mainly supplying Turkey, China, Malaysia and Singapore. It supplies almost no gasoline and low-sulphur diesel to Russia's domestic market.
In 2023 the plant processed 9.322 million metric tons of crude oil, producing 3.306 million tons of gasoil and 3.123 million tons of fuel oil.
The plant has also been disrupted this year by damage from Ukrainian drone attacks. Ukraine has been systematically targeting Russian energy infrastructure in an attempt to disrupt Russia's economy and its ability to fund Russia's war in Ukraine, something the Kremlin calls a special military operation.
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