Oil refineries linked to Russia have been hit by explosions in Romania and Hungary leaving at least one person severely injured.
A blast occurred at the Petrotel-Lukoil refinery in Ploiesti, southern Romania, on Monday. A 57-year-old worker sustained serious head and leg injuries and was taken to intensive care.
The facility is owned by a subsidiary of Lukoil, one of Russia’s largest privately owned oil and gas companies. It had reportedly been offline since Oct. 17 due to a planned technical inspection, according to Hungarian newspaper Vilaggazdasag.
Russian oil remains a key source of revenue for Moscow’s war in Ukraine. Despite the European Union’s push to fully phase out Russia energy, several member states continue to receive supplies.
Coming after recent Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil infrastructure, local authorities have not ruled out the possibility that the incident was deliberate. Human error or technical malfunction, are also being considered, Vilaggazdasag reported.
An explosion also occurred at Hungary’s largest oil refinery, in the city of Szazhalombatta, which receives crude oil from Russia, according to Hungarian media outlet Telex.
The Danube Refinery, located about 30 kilometers) from Budapest and owned by the Hungarian oil company MOL, caught fire on Monday and firefighters extinguished the blaze by the morning of Oct. 21. No injuries or fatalities were reported.
The exact cause of the incident remains under investigation. The facility, considered the most advanced in Hungary’s oil refining sector, faces a temporary shutdown. It is supplied with crude oil from Russia through the Druzba pipeline.
On the night of the fire, “some special work” was reportedly underway at the plant, which was not mentioned in official statements, Telex reported quoting sources. The MOL oil company said no open-flame operations, such as welding, were being conducted that evening.
The extent of the damage caused by the fire remains unclear.
Russia’s Novokuibyshevsk oil refinery also suspended operations this week following a drone attack, according to Reuters.
The Novokuibyshevsk refinery is part of Rosneft’s Samara group of refineries.
Ukraine has not commented on the explosions at oil refineries in Romania and Hungary, nor on the drone strike at the Novokuibyshevsk facility.
