M Half of Russia’s six top
diesel-producing refineries were forced to significantly cut
back or completely halt output in September due to damage
sustained in drone attacks, according to Reuters calculations
based on data from fuel market participants.
Russia’s fuel crunch was underscored by U.S. President
Donald Trump on Sunday, when he called on Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskiy to stop targeting Russian diesel
infrastructure, saying the attacks were causing a shortage of
the fuel that is “hurting the world”.
Ukraine, which faces regular Russian attacks on its own
energy infrastructure, says refineries are legitimate military
targets.
The U.S. national average price for diesel, which is used by
trucks, trains, ships and farm equipment, rose above $6 a gallon
for the first time on Thursday, according to price tracker
GasBuddy, an unwanted dynamic for Trump ahead of November’s
midterm elections.
MOSCOW FORCED TO RESTRICT EXPORTS
Diesel is widely used in the agricultural sector, which was
already under pressure in the U.S. before the Iran war, facing a
fourth straight year of shrinking margins in the face of
resurgent drought, high input costs and fallout from Trump’s
trade policies.
The conflict in Iran has undermined global fuel supply,
while Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia’s refineries in recent
months have led to a decline in fuel production in the country
and forced Moscow to restrict exports of gasoline, diesel and
jet fuel.
According to the market-sourced data, six plants — the Omsk
refinery, Kirishi, Taneco, Volgograd refinery, NORSI and Perm —
account for about half of Russia’s diesel production.
Kirishi has been fully shut down, while the Volgograd
refinery and NORSI are operating at about one-quarter of their
nameplate capacity, according to sources.
Diesel production at those plants is several times lower
than normal levels. Taneco was attacked by drones on Sunday, but
sources said it was not yet possible to assess the consequences
of the attack.
ONE RUSSIAN REFINERY HIT EVERY THREE DAYS, IEA SAYS
According to the Paris-based International Energy Agency, in
the first eight months of 2026, a Russian refinery was
successfully hit on average every three days.
Russian diesel exports before the restrictions were
introduced amounted to less than 1 million metric tons in June,
according to traders’ estimates, while combined exports of
diesel and gasoil 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.