The Ust-Luga complex, located on the Gulf of Finland about 170km (110 miles) west of St Petersburg, processes stable gas condensate into light and heavy naphtha, jet fuel, fuel oil and gas oil, according to Novatek’s website. The port is used to ship processed products to international markets.
“There were no casualties as a result of the fire at the Novatek terminal in the port of Ust-Luga. The personnel were evacuated,” Alexander Drozdenko, the Leningrad region’s governor, said on the Telegram messaging app.
Russian news agencies reported that two storage tanks and a pumping station had been damaged, but that the fire had now been brought under control.
Drozdenko did not say what caused the blaze, but Russian news outlet Shot reported that local residents had heard a drone operating nearby, followed by several explosions.
St Petersburg-based news outlet Fontanka said at least two drones were spotted in the sky flying towards St Petersburg before the terminal caught fire.
On Friday, a drone attack hit an oil depot in Russia’s western region of Bryansk, bordering Ukraine, for which Moscow blamed Kyiv. That came a day after an attack on a Russian Baltic Sea oil terminal that Russian officials said was unsuccessful.
There was no immediate comment on Sunday from Ukraine on the Novatek incident. Novatek did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Baza, a Russian news outlet known for its security services contacts, posted footage on Telegram of large flames shooting into the sky over what appeared to be an industrial complex.
Three international tanker ships were anchored near the fire, though there were no reports of damage to them, the Fontanka outlet said.
Drozdenko said a “high alert regime” had been introduced and that officials had gathered for an emergency meeting.
Novatek processed 3.4 million tonnes of stable gas condensate at the complex in the first half of last year, according to the most recent data available, up 0.6 per cent from the same period a year earlier.