Gazprom Neft progresses with Omsk refinery modernization

PJSC Gazprom Neft has completed installation of major equipment for a 2 million-tonne/year deep refining complex currently under construction as part of an ongoing modernization and upgrading program to reduce environmental impacts as well as improve processing capacities, conversion rates, energy efficiency, and production qualities of at its 21.4 million-tpy Omsk refinery in Western Siberia (OGJ Online, Dec. 9, 2013).

Gazprom Neft finished installing the 64-m, 350-tonne main processing column for its advanced oil refining complex (AORC) at Omsk in early July, which concludes installation of large-scale manufacturing equipment on the AORC project, the operator said.

With installation of reactors, separators, and high-pressure heat exchangers also now completed, remaining work for the project includes construction of overhead gangways and steam-reforming furnaces, both of which are currently under way, Gazprom Neft said.

Designed to increase the Omsk refinery’s output of Euro 5-quality diesel and jet fuels from heavy residues by more than 6%, as well as supply of as much as 250,000 tpy of raw material for production of high-performance lubricants, the AORC complex will use a combination of hydrocracking and sulfur-removal technologies to remove 99.8% of sulfur compounds from unfinished feedstock to produce finished products meeting the most stringent environmental specifications (OGJ Online, July 27, 2016).

The AORC project joins a series of works under way as part of the second phase of the Omsk refinery’s modernization program, which specifically aims to further improve the overall refining depth, environmental performance, and yield of light-end petroleum products (OGJ Online, Apr. 21, 2017).

The operator, however, has yet to confirm an official timeline for when it will commission the new complex.

Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].