The Russian oil sector was affected by a drop in the average daily oil refining rate to its lowest weekly levels in 10 months following the Ukrainian attacks on this sector. A group of Ukrainian drones targeted many major Russian oil facilities.

Refineries in Russia recorded a decrease of 400 thousand barrels per day from the average during the first 13 days of this month of March. It processed 5.03 million barrels per day of crude from March 14 to 20, according to Bloomberg data based on historical data.

By the third consecutive year of the war between Russia and Ukraine, Kiev is focusing on targeting the Russian oil sector using drones in an attempt to stop fuel supplies to the front lines of the fighting, in addition to stopping the flow of dollar oil revenues to the Kremlin’s coffers.

A portion of the daily processing capacity, ranging between 480,000 and 900,000 barrels, was disrupted. As a result of the Ukrainian attacks this year, 13 major refineries and two small plants were targeted.

According to analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, the actual decline in total crude processing at the country's refineries is expected to decrease, especially since other stations that were not affected by the attacks have increased their productivity.

The latest Ukrainian attacks were launched on the small Slavyansk refinery in southern Russia last weekend, and the production of Russian refineries is likely to witness fluctuations in the coming weeks, ranging between 5 million and 5.2 million barrels per day, coinciding with the cessation of a new wave of drone attacks. These fluctuations include not only the damage caused by drone attacks, but also the start of scheduled seasonal maintenance work, according to the Bloomberg survey.