Drone Strikes Force Half of Russia's Top Diesel Refineries to Cut Output
Six major Russian refineries accounting for about half of national diesel output have been hit by drone attacks, prompting export restrictions.
Half of Russia's six largest diesel-producing refineries have been forced to significantly reduce or entirely halt production in September following damage from drone strikes, according to calculations based on data from fuel market participants.
The six plants — the Omsk refinery, Kirishi, Taneco, the Volgograd refinery, NORSI and Perm — together account for roughly half of Russia's diesel output. Kirishi has been fully shut down, while the Volgograd refinery and NORSI are operating at about one-quarter of their nameplate capacity. Diesel production at these facilities is running several times below normal levels.
Taneco was attacked by drones on Sunday, though sources said the consequences of that strike could not yet be assessed.
The pressure on Russian fuel supplies drew comment from U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday, who urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to stop targeting Russian diesel infrastructure, saying the attacks were causing a shortage of fuel that is "hurting the world." Ukraine, which faces regular Russian strikes on its own energy infrastructure, maintains that refineries are legitimate military targets.
The supply crunch has coincided with rising diesel prices in the United States, where the national average climbed above $6 a gallon for the first time on Thursday, according to price tracker GasBuddy — an unwelcome development for Trump ahead of November's midterm elections. Diesel is widely used by trucks, trains, ships and farm equipment, and the U.S. agricultural sector was already under pressure before the Iran war, facing a fourth consecutive year of shrinking margins amid drought, high input costs and the fallout from Trump's trade policies.
The conflict in Iran has undermined global fuel supply, while Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian refineries in recent months have reduced the country's fuel production and pushed Moscow to restrict exports of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.
According to the Paris-based International Energy Agency, a Russian refinery was successfully hit on average every three days during the first eight months of 2026.
Before the restrictions were introduced, Russian diesel exports amounted to less than 1 million metric tons in June, according to traders' estimates, while combined diesel and gasoil exports totalled about 1.8 million tons. A year earlier, when refineries were operating normally, diesel exports stood at about 2.5 million tons per month, or 3.3 million to 3.4 million tons including lower-quality gasoil.
Turkey and Brazil had been the largest buyers of Russian diesel for many months, taking at least half of available cargoes before the restrictions came into force in July, according to LSEG data.