I’m by no means an expert in the oil refinery process, or in modern warfare techniques, but my understanding is that Ukrainian drones largely target what is called the Fractionating column, which is the heart of a refinery.

In a nutshell, oil is refined by heating crude oil and drawing off liquids at different temperatures. Fuel oil liquifies at one temperature, lubricating oil at another, kerosene at another, etc. The fractionating column is where all of this takes place. You can see a simplified graphic here.

Since that’s the key component of a refinery it’s obviously a prime target for drone attacks etc. And if the refinery is in active operation then it means there’s plenty of volatile fuel around to create a fireball like this.

[–] Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluid_catalytic_cracking. I did maintenance shutdowns on them thirty years ago. They would be a good target since inside them are all kinds of different petrochemicals. Many are unstable and don't need any help exploding.

[–] zabadoh@ani.social 2 points 6 hours ago

My understanding from reading various articles about past refinery attacks is that there are some components in fractionating columns that rely on Western components, and are difficult for Russia to replace while it's under sanctions.

[–] The_v@lemmy.world 6 points 12 hours ago

The drones are small and the refineries are designed to handle sudden failures in the system and fires. Ukraine likely has some experts directing the targeting of the most difficult to replace or explosive parts. So they get the best bang for their efforts

Given the size of the fireball I would guess that they hit something close to the end of the production line for diesel/gasoline.