Drones hit Lukoil's Kstovsky refinery with annual capacity of 17 million tonnes of oil

Night strike on industrial facility

On the night preceding 1 November, unmanned aerial vehicles struck the Lukoil-Nizhnevogornefteorgsintez oil refinery, located in the city of Kstovo in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. As a result of the attack, a large fire broke out on the enterprise's premises.

Local residents reported explosions and fires. Video footage of the flames began appearing on social media at approximately 04:00 local time. According to OSINT channel Exilenova+, the Kstovsky refinery was specifically targeted.

Official confirmation and scale of damage

Gleb Nikitin, Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, officially confirmed the fact of a drone attack on an industrial enterprise in the Kstovsky district. He stated that the facility sustained serious damage, but the official did not specify which particular enterprise was meant in the context of the region's infrastructure.

The Kstovsky refinery is owned by Lukoil and is among the largest oil refining capacities in Russia. The plant's designed capacity is approximately 17 million tonnes of oil per year. It produces petrol, diesel and aviation fuel, as well as other types of petroleum products.

Impact on infrastructure and lack of data on shutdown

Due to the threat of drone attacks, temporary restrictions on the operation of airfields were introduced in the region, including in Nizhny Novgorod.

At present, there is no official information regarding the exact scale of damage to oil refining production or whether the attack led to a shutdown of the plant.