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US Urges Ukraine to Halt Russian Strikes on Refineries

OIL

The US has urged Ukraine to halt attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, as the latest drone attacks on oil refineries have been driving up oil prices, sources told the FT.

  • The US government is worried that ongoing attacks will push pump prices higher ahead of the election this year.
  • “Nothing terrifies a sitting American president more than a surge in pump prices during an election year,” said Bob McNally, president of consultancy Rapidan Energy and a former White House energy adviser.
  • The US is also concerned that Russia could retaliate, sources said.
  • “We do not encourage or enable attacks inside of Russia,” an NSC spokesperson said
  • The warning from the US was issued to senior officials at Ukraine state security service SBU and the military directorate, the GUR, sources told the FT.
  • Russian refinery throughput from March 13-20 fell by 7.5% vs March 1-14, dropping to 5 mn bpd after a series of Ukrainian drone strikes hampered processing rates according to Reuters calculations on industry sources data.
  • Russia’s oil refining capacity taken offline by Ukrainian drone strikes has been estimated at 0.6mb/d by Gunvor and 0.9mb/d by JP Morgan.

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