Gazprom Plant Explosion: 60% of russia’s Gas Processing Hit

October 20, 2025October 22, 2025

Ever the past day, several videos appeared showing how the Orenburg gas processing plant belonging to Gazprom looked after being hit. At the moment of attack, the fire had such a scale that no refinery attacked before this demonstrated even a tenth of the picture. It’s hard to say how long the fire itself lasted. But we can assume it was no more than a few minutes. After all, unlike burning spilled oil or petroleum products, gas evaporates quickly. Only the products of its processing continue to burn. That is, there’s nothing to burn for long. But the explosion and the first minutes of burning look simply epic. This Gazprom plant explosion marks a significant escalation in targeting russia’s energy infrastructure.

However, this event remained in the shadow of burning oil depots, refineries and substations. And that’s unfortunate. There are several aspects of this operation that require additional explanation. So, closer to Sunday evening, October 19, the Special Operations Forces published a report on the operation on their Telegram channel and later in Facebook. It looks like this:

On the night of October 19, 2025, units of ‘deep strike’ of the Special Operations Forces, in cooperation with the rebel movement in the russian federation “Black Spark”, hit the Orenburg gas processing plant, Orenburg region of the russian federation, located at a distance of 1,500 kilometers. Explosions and a large-scale fire were recorded on the plant’s territory. The Orenburg GPP is one of the largest gas processing complexes in the russian federation and is capable of processing up to 45 billion cubic meters of natural gas and 6.2 million tons of gas condensate/oil per year. According to preliminary information, one of the gas processing and purification units was hit.

Black Spark: The Inside Factor

Here it attracts attention that our Special Operations Forces acted in cooperation with local resistance forces called “Black Spark”. What kind of structure this is, we’ll find out someday. But this is not the first mention that it participates in active operations of the Special Operations Forces. And the results of these events are significant. This is an interesting and important point that should not be overlooked. But much more interesting is the nature of the target that the specialists worked on.

The Special Operations Forces report mentioned hitting one preliminary gas purification unit. How many of them the plant has is not stated in open sources. But at modern enterprises of this type, they are integrated into a complex for producing commercial gas. However, this plant was built in 1974. And how everything is arranged there is unknown. Perhaps, as at refineries, such units are separated from specific complexes. And they distribute purified gas to other technological units. And there are quite a lot of them: nine units for producing commercial gas, seven units for producing gas sulfur, and three units for condensate stabilization.

Gazprom Plant Explosion Impact: 60% of russia’s Gas Processing

Now about the dimensions and significance of the enterprise. This very plant was the largest enterprise of this type in the Sovok¹. It remains the largest both in the Gazprom system and on the territory of the federation. It accounts for more than 60% of all gas processing in the Swamps². It’s not the largest by annual processing volume. But it’s among the most massive in terms of total processing and infrastructure. It’s called the “largest gas-chemical complex” in the world in terms of the totality of capacities and technological integration.

The significance of the Orenburg plant at the world level is much higher than the significance of any russian refinery. And here’s what’s interesting. Many analysts, commenting on massive attacks on russian refineries, note something important. In addition to loss of revenue from selling petroleum products, costs of equipment repairs and other expenses, the biggest problem is stopping the wells from which oil is pumped. The danger lies in the fact that most of them are located in places with very harsh climate. Therefore, maintaining such wells in safe mode requires constant oil pumping. But if there’s nowhere to put it, extraction will have to be stopped. And experts agree that it’s unlikely to be possible to restart them again.

The Asymmetric Response Strategy

But if such problems arise for oil workers who conduct extraction hundreds of kilometers south of gas fields, then something similar may arise with gas. And right now, a huge gas processing plant stopped taking gas from pipelines. All this is because the footwraps complained not in vain that professionals from industries not related to military affairs have already been involved in strike planning. They form targeting for strikes on such objects. Now it’s necessary to inflict as much damage as possible on the orcs’ economy. So that these “thousand cuts” give a cumulative effect and the Swamps begin to self-destruct. And as far as can be understood, it’s precisely in this regard that their own game has already been found.

We cannot afford to wage war as sweepingly and wastefully as the enemy still does – We don’t have resources for such a war. We only partially compensate for these gaps through new technologies and other methods of war. But until the enemy sits on a hunger ration, we’ll still have to fight endlessly. And right now we’re observing what’s called an “asymmetric response”. Let’s just remember that in the same Orenburg region, over a year ago, the Armed Forces of Ukraine hit an over-the-horizon radar. This means that even then there was an opportunity to fly and strike this plant. But then, probably, there was a different paradigm. However, it seems that now everything has changed. The Gazprom plant explosion demonstrates this new approach perfectly.

¹Sovok – sarcastic abbreviation for “Soviet Union,” derived from “Sovetskiy Soyuz”. The word also means “dustpan,” carrying a double connotation of trashiness and backwardness.

²Swamps – ironic name for Russia, emphasizing decay, stagnation, and filth.