Wholesale gasoline prices in Russia have hit record levels after Ukrainian drone strikes forced several major refineries offline.
On Monday, AI-92 gasoline on the St. Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange rose 1.3% to 71,516 rubles ($885) per ton, while AI-95 climbed 2.2% to 80,430 rubles ($995). Since the beginning of the year, AI-92 has risen by 38%, while AI-95 has surged nearly 49%.
The surge follows a series of attacks this month that halted operations at three major refineries: Rosneft’s Novokuybyshevsk plant on August 2, its Saratov plant on August 11, and Lukoil’s Volgograd refinery, the largest in southern Russia and among the country’s top 10 producers, on August 14.
Together, the facilities represent nearly 30 million tons of annual refining capacity, or about 11% of Russia’s total output in 2023, according to reports.
Refineries continue to be targeted. On Thursday, Ukrainian Special Operations Forces struck a Russian military fuel train near the occupied Crimean railway station in Dzhankoi.
🔥 The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported the successful strike on a Russian fuel train in occupied Dzhankoi, Crimea.
Last night, Ukrainian forces also attacked an oil refinery in Russia’s Rostov region, a Russian UAV depot, a logistics hub in Donetsk, and a… pic.twitter.com/ww485BGASk
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 21, 2025
The strike came after earlier attacks on an oil refinery in Russia’s Rostov region.
❗️🇷🇺Russian Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery continues to burn after 🇺🇦UAV attack pic.twitter.com/f4MCqxYcvX
— 🪖MilitaryNewsUA🇺🇦 (@front_ukrainian) August 21, 2025
Infographics released on Aug. 15 by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine showed that nearly 80% of Russian air targets struck by Ukraine were part of the country’s oil and gas infrastructure. Of these, 42% were oil refineries and 37% were oil storage facilities, while the remainder were logistics assets such as oil pumping stations and export terminals.
The General Staff estimates that these strikes on Russian enterprises and infrastructure have cut the Federation’s revenues by $74 billion.
