On the night of August 26, 2026, the Lukoil-Nizhny Novgorod Neftorgsintez (NORSI) plant in Kstovo, Nizhny Novgorod Region, came under attack by long-range drones. According to media reports, direct hits on the factory grounds triggered a large-scale fire, and management urgently halted the oil refining process.
Timeline of the Strike
According to available information, around 2:30 a.m. a series of suicide drones breached the local air defense system and dove onto the plant's industrial facilities. The strike came at a time when the facility was only just recovering from previous attacks.
Epicenter of the Damage
The primary damage, according to reports, was sustained by the ELAU-AVT-6 primary refining unit — the plant's key installation. According to The Insider, it had already been damaged in May and July 2026 and had only recently returned to limited operation before the new strike.
Condition of the Plant
Emergency services contained the open fire by the morning of August 26, however the technological chain has been halted. A repeated thermal strike on the fractionation columns and tubular furnaces, according to estimates by industry experts, has taken the unit out of service for an indefinite period.
Contradictory Data
Figures vary across sources. The AVT-6 unit at the heart of the incident is valued at approximately 6 million tons of oil per year (more than half the refinery's capacity), while in some materials (e.g., glavred.info) the total capacity of the Kstovo refinery is given as 17 million tons, and the losses from the strike as "up to 15 million tons of feedstock on an annual basis." These figures are inconsistent with each other: if AVT-6 provides only about 6 million tons, then an estimate of 15 million tons in losses appears overstated. The exact scale of the damage and the recovery timeline have not been confirmed by an independent audit as of the time of publication.
