The ongoing strikes on Russian oil refineries are driving up the cost of gasoline and diesel worldwide. The prices are really noticeable in the United States, Europe, and Asia.
Ukraine has targeted oil depots, processing plants, and metering stations with drones and missiles, calling them legitimate facilities that support Russia’s “war machine.” Russia, in turn, has struck elements of Ukraine’s power grid, saying the infrastructure supports the Ukrainian military, accoridng to a report by RT.
Back in February, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the West should be on the hook for repairing the damage done to its oil infrastructure by Ukraine during the war.
Putin: The West Should Repair The Damage Done By Ukraine To Oil Infrastructure
“Since they [the Western companies] are… interested in restoring the facility’s operational capacity, then let them arrange for the necessary equipment delivery despite all the sanctions,” Putin said. He added that the CPC shareholders would be doing this “for their own benefit” anyway. Moscow will provide the necessary assistance, he noted. –SHTFPlan
Bloomberg reported on Saturday that these attacks, combined with outages at key plants in Asia and Africa, have removed millions of barrels of diesel and gasoline from the global market, the outlet said. United States sanctions on Russian energy giants Lukoil and Rosneft in October, along with restrictions imposed by the EU, have also helped drive prices higher.
Refining margins in the US, Europe, and Asia are now at their highest levels for this time of year since at least 2018, Bloomberg said, citing its own calculations. Additional pressure has come from shutdowns and outages at refineries in Kuwait and Nigeria.
In August, Hungary imposed sanctions on Ukraine’s top drone commander, Robert Brovdi, after repeated strikes disrupted the flow of crude through the Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline.
Ukraine’s New Attack on A Key Pipeline
Continued attacks on refineries coupled with sanctions will continue to raise the cost of oil globally, and the most affected humans will be those on the lower rungs of the economic ladder.