Video: Ukrainian Drones Damage Vital Russian Black Sea Oil and Gas Terminal
The Defense Forces of Ukraine announced a new strike on the oil and gas terminal at Taman on the peninsula on the eastern side of the Black Sea and near the Kerch Strait. Ukraine said the terminal, which was hit for a second time in less than a month, was targeted because it is being used to supply fuel to the Russian forces.
The drone attack was confirmed by Veniamin Kondratyev, Governor of the Krasnodar Krai region, who posted online that the area had been stuck on Wednesday, January 21, for the second day running. He called it a “massive attack,” with Wednesday’s strikes targeting the port terminals.
Ukraine's video shows two tankers at the terminal (SBU)
The report said that there was a large fire at the terminals and that four oil storage tanks were engulfed. The governor said that 97 people and 29 pieces of equipment were involved in the firefighting efforts.
He reported that two employees of the terminal were killed and that several others were injured. The Russian news agency Interfax issued an update on January 22, reporting that three people had died and that eight were injured. It said by Thursday the fires had been extinguished, while Ukraine said it was still working to ascertain the extent of the damage on the terminal and port area.
Taman is a major transshipment terminal for Russia, including LPG transshipments and an oil terminal. It is operated by Tamanneftegaz, which highlights it has a combined capacity of 19.9 million tons per year. It also handles petroleum products arriving by rail to sea transport, as well as grain, coal, fertilizer, and other cargoes in areas of the port. The tank farm is reported to have a total capacity exceeding 1 million cubic meters.
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Ukraine targeted the same facilities in a series of attacks between December 21 and 22. Russian officials confirmed damage to two piers, a pipeline, and two vessels that were in the port at the time of the attack. Teams continued to fight the fires into the following day.
The attacks are part of a larger strategy by Ukraine to continue to strike at Russia’s oil infrastructure. It has attacked other oil terminals and also extended the strikes to the oil platforms in the Caspian Sea. It has also struck several tankers seeking to stop Russia’s oil exports and reduce the revenues from oil sales.