[1] Russian oil is transported by oil tankers from the Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port, unloaded at an oil terminal located in the Port of Constanţa, and transported to the refinery by rail or by a 250 kilometres (155 mi) underground pipeline that links the refinery to the port.

The refinery was attacked by a small raid in June 1942, then by a much larger series of missions, Operation Tidal Wave in August 1943, in an effort to destroy the Axis' oil fields and refineries.

[5] The refinery area quickly became the third most heavily defended target in Europe, after Berlin and Vienna.

[7] Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent sanctions against Russia, it was agreed from 5 December 2022 that Petrotel Lukoil Refinery will only refine non-Russian crude oil.

[8] In October 2023 Romania invalidated the petroleum products wholesale trading licence that had been held by the Swiss-registered subsidiary of Russian group Lukoil, Litasco SA, which supplies crude oil to and distributes refined oil from the refinery.