Kazakhstan’s energy ministry is in contact with the nation’s oil producers following a drone attack on the large Orenburg gas-processing plant in Russia, the ministry said in a statement.
The strike may impact Kazakh oil production, the ministry said, as the Orenburg facility has stopped accepting gas from Kazakhstan’s Karachaganak project, the statement said.
Karachaganak, near the nations’ shared border, is one of Kazakhstan’s three key oil and gas projects. Because oil and gas there are co-produced, operators can’t cut gas output without also reducing crude.
Any slowdown at Karachaganak would put pressure on overall production of oil within Kazakhstan.
Drones overnight struck the plant in the Orenburg region, some 1,700 kilometers east of Kyiv but only about 150 km from Karashyganak.
The attack sparked a fire at one of the plant’s units, regional governor Yevgeny Solntsev said Sunday on Telegram. Flight restrictions were imposed for a time at Orenburg’s airport, Interfax reported, citing air transport officials.
Ukrainian hasn’t commented on the attack.
Russia over the past month has reported a growing number of drone attacks deep inside its territory, with some reaching nearly 2,000 kilometers from the Ukrainian border — further testing the country’s air defenses. Ukrainian UAVs have targeted facilities as far afield as Siberia and the Ural mountains.
Drones also targeted the Samara region overnight, according to the local governor, who didn’t specify what was hit or whether there was damage.
Local Telegram channels claimed an oil refinery may have been struck, though there’s been no official confirmation. The area is home to Rosneft PJSC’s Novokuibyshevsk refinery, a producer of petroleum products with a capacity of 170,000 barrels per day.
Separately, Ukraine’s air force reported 62 Russian drones over its territory overnight, 40 of which were shot down or suppressed.
The Russian defense ministry said it struck a HIMARS rocket launch system in Ukraine’s Chernihiv region, about 18 km from the Russian border.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
