Fire Engulfs Transneft's Largest Oil Hub in Samara Region

Ukrainian monitoring channels Exilenova+ and Supernova+ reported the blaze at the Samara station, saying it began after Ukrainian air attacks. The outlet Astra, geolocating photos and video published by eyewitnesses, confirmed the fire at the station. Data from NASA's FIRMS satellite service also indicated a fire.

Roads in the nearby settlement have been closed. Local Telegram channels published footage of the fire, noting that smoke was visible from different parts of Samara.

The regional emergency operations center reported that a drone attack had been repelled, saying several drones were shot down. Samara Region Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev had earlier reported a drone threat in the region, but it was lifted that morning. No official information on the consequences of the attack has been released.

The Samara station is the largest oil transport and distribution hub of Transneft — Privolga, a subsidiary of Transneft. It is located in the settlement of Prosvet, 30 km from Samara, and covers more than 216 hectares.

The station's 71 reservoirs have a combined capacity of more than 1.6 million cubic meters of oil. Its infrastructure includes two oil pumping stations and a separate oil blending station.

Four trunk oil pipelines converge at the Samara station: Almetyevsk — Kuibyshev, Kaltasinsky — Kuibyshev, Nizhnevartovsk — Kurgan — Kuibyshev, and Guryev — Kuibyshev. Oil flows here from Western Siberia, Tatarstan, Orenburg and Kazakhstan, and the Druzhba pipeline to Europe also runs through it.

The station was first struck on the night of October 2. According to Ukraine's General Staff, 14 reservoirs, a pipeline and an automated loading station were hit at the time. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the facility was attacked on October 2.

Accounts differ: the Ukrainian monitoring channels Exilenova+ and Supernova+ say the fire began after Ukrainian air attacks. Russian authorities have not reported on the strikes or their consequences — the regional operations center reported only that a drone attack had been repelled.