The Volgograd refinery can process about 14 million tonnes of oil a year — roughly 280,000 barrels per day, or about 5% of all Russian refining capacity. It has sustained significant damage before, in drone attacks on May 29 and July 31.
Lukoil did not respond to the agency's request for comment.
The administration of the Volgograd region, citing Governor Andrei Bocharov, reported a massed drone attack on the region's industrial infrastructure but did not name specific facilities.
Reuters assessed that the shutdown of the Volgograd plant will most likely deepen the fuel shortages caused by strikes on Russian refineries. The agency previously reported that Lukoil's Perm refinery halted processing entirely after a drone attack, becoming the fourth Russian oil plant to stop work following Ukrainian drone strikes since September 20. Before it, the Moscow, Kuibyshev and Novoshakhtinsk refineries halted processing.