Giant Russian Gas Plant Suspends Intake from Kazakhstan After Drone Strike

The Orenburg gas processing plant—the largest facility of its kind in the world—has been forced to suspend its intake of gas from Kazakhstan after a Ukrainian drone attack, Kazakhstan’s energy ministry said, Tamara Vaal reported for Reuters.

Ukraine confirmed it had struck a gas processing plant in the Orenburg region and an oil refinery in the Samara region. (Photo: GL Engineering Limited Liability Company)

Orenburg regional governor Yevgeny Solntsev said earlier on Sunday that the plant had been partially damaged and that the drone strike caused a fire to break out at one of the plant’s workshops.

The fire was later extinguished, Kommersant reported, citing the plant operator.

Ukraine confirmed it had struck a gas processing plant in the Orenburg region and an oil refinery in the Samara region. It has stepped up attacks on Russian refineries and other energy facilities since August in an effort to disrupt fuel supplies and deprive Moscow of funding.

The Ukrainian military said there were explosions and a fire at the site.

It is the first reported strike on the Orenburg plant, which forms part of the Orenburg Gas Chemical Complex.

The facility, operated by Gazprom, has an annual processing capacity of 45 billion cubic meters and handles gas condensate from both the Orenburg oil and gas field and Kazakhstan’s Karachaganak field.

Kazakhstan’s energy ministry said Gazprom had notified it of the emergency but had yet to provide details on the extent of the damage or a timeline for resuming full operations. No injuries were reported.

The governor of Russia’s Samara region, Vyacheslav Fedorishchev, said air defenses were also active overnight against Ukrainian drones and that the local airport and mobile internet services had been temporarily suspended.

Ukraine has previously attempted to strike an oil refinery in the Samara region.