On 9 September Lukoil President Vagit Alekperov and Nizhegorodskaya Region Governor Valery Shantsev took part in the ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the launch of a new tar visbreaking unit at the 480,000 b/d Norsi refinery in Kstovo (Nizhegorodskaya region).
The unit has a projected capacity of 2.4mn t/yr and comes with 2.35bn roubles ($100mn) in capital investment.
The tar visbreaking unit will significantly increase profitability at the enterprise – production volume of fuel oil will drop 930,000 t/yr, while the volume of vacuum gasoil (VGO) will rise 860,000 t/yr. The project will enable Lukoil to increase both the facility’s refining depth and the efficiency of its production.
“On behalf of the company’s leaders, I offer a heartfelt congratulations to the refinery’s employees on the occasion of the enterprise’s 50th anniversary. The launch of the tar visbreaking unit is an important stage in the large modernisation project underway at the refinery. The next stage is to build a catalytic cracking complex which will come on line in 2010. This will bring the share of high-octane gasoline blends at the refinery to 100% and the enterprise will become one of the best in the sector”, Alekperov said.
In June, Lukoil launched another visbreaking unit its 78,000b/d refinery in Odessa, Ukraine.
Reprint of the materials is prohibited without written consent of the authors, other uses require reference to the original. Electronic media quotations of the materials published in the magazine and on the site are permitted only on condition of linking to this site after the quote.