Originally Posted by
Pali
We should take in account that replacing one distillation column unit is sort of doable, but imagine Russia would need to produce 30 of them, transport, hire and assign workers, and assemble on site. Frankly, they don't have such capacity.
I find that a curiously naiive statement, as are the oft-heard claims that a hit on a cracking tower has "destroyed" a refinery. While it may be pleasant to wallow in congratulatory dreamland over small UKR victories it is necessary to put these events into some sort of perspective. A large oil refinery may have up to 70 - yes - seventy - cracking columns, a smaller one perhaps 30 according to a brief internet search. So whacking one or two will be no more than a brief inconvenience, and anyone who imagines Ruzzia "doesn't have the capacity" to build enough towers to equip one single small refinery is, imho, living in dreamland. They're only big steel tubes with a bit of plumbig attached after all. Long lead-timeto replace maybe, but even so. There's nothing very technical about them and the loss of two or three out of 30 is hardly going to make a vast difference to output. OK, that just cuts 10% (ie decimates) the output of a small refinery, and half that of a large one. Big deal unless you can keep hitting them all every week for six months or more.