Reuters: Gazprom plant in Astrakhan shut down after UAV attack

Gazprom's Astrakhan gas processing plant stopped producing motor fuel on September 22 after a fire caused by a drone attack. This was reported by with reference to three sources in the industry, Reuters.

According to the agency's sources, the fire engulfed a condensate production facility with a capacity of 3 million tons per year, which produces commercial gasoline and diesel fuel.

The plant, located near the Caspian Sea, about 1,675 km from the Ukrainian border, may resume production only in weeks or months, sources tell Reuters.

Gazprom did not respond to Reuters' request for comment.

On Monday, the governor of Astrakhan region, Igor Babushkin, reported that 13 Ukrainian UAVs attacked the region. According to him, "the main target of the Ukrainian Armed Forces was an industrial facility in the region. The falling debris caused localized fires, which were promptly extinguished." He did not specify the name of the industrial enterprise .

On Monday, the St. Petersburg Mercantile Exchange suspended sales of wholesale gasoline from the Astrakhan refinery. Earlier, on September 15, due to a malfunction of the hydrotreating system at the plant, the exchange stopped selling diesel fuel from the Astrakhan GPP.

In February 2025, attack on the Astrakhan Gas Processing Plant disabled a processing unit, which could have cost the plant up to 40 billion rubles.

After emergency and overhaul repairs, the motor fuel production unit, according to industry sources, returned to work in late August, and in the first decade of September, it resumed production of commercial diesel fuel and gasoline.

The Astrakhan Gas Processing Plant is one of the world's largest gas and chemical complexes and the largest enterprise in the Astrakhan region. The processing capacity is at least 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas and over 3 million tons of gas condensate.

In 2024, Astrakhan Gas Processing Plant processed 1.8 million tons of stable gas condensate, produced 0.8 million tons of gasoline, 0.6 million tons of diesel fuel and 0.3 million tons of fuel oil.

• Since the beginning of August 2025, 16 of Russia's 38 refineries have been attacked by drones, some of them several times. The Ukrainian strikes have pushed Russia's diesel exports to their lowest level since 2020. The country has started discussing a complete ban on diesel exports by the end of the year.