Gazprom Neft lets contract for new complex at Moscow refinery
PJSC Gazprom Neft subsidiary JSC Gazpromneft-MNPZ has let a contract to Lummus Technology LLC to provide technology and equipment to further expand production of Euro 5-quality fuels while improving operational efficiency and environmental performance as part of the operator’s ongoing modernization and upgrade of its 12-million tonnes/year Moscow refinery (OGJ Online, May 5, 2017).
As part of the Dec. 2 contract, Lummus will design, manufacture, and supply two fired heaters based on its proprietary advanced heater technology to be installed at the delayed coking section of a new deep oil processing complex now under construction at the refinery, Gazpromneft-MNPZ and Lummus Technology said in separate releases.
The heaters will be added to enhance efficiency and reduce environmental impacts of a delayed coking unit that will be equipped with technology licensed by Chevron Lummus Global (CLG)—a Chevron USA Inc.-Lummus Technology JV—to process heavy oil fractions at the deep oil processing complex for increased output of lighter, cleaner fuels and production of petroleum coke for use in the metallurgical industry, the operator and service provider said.
The latest contract for the delayed coking section of the Moscow refinery’s planned deep oil processing complex follows Gazpromneft-MNPZ’s earlier $240-million contract award to Técnicas Reunidas SA to provide provide engineering, procurement (EP) as well as project management and startup services for the proposed 2.4-million tpy delayed coking unit (OGJ Online, June 29, 2021).
Gazpromneft-MNPZ, which began construction of the deep oil processing complex on Sept. 1, also previously awarded a contract to DL E&C Co. Ltd. of South Korea and its subsidiary Daelim RUS LLC to deliver a suite of services on construction of the complex’s hydrocracking plant (OGJ Online, Mar. 12, 2021).
Moscow refinery modernization
The new hydrocracking unit planned for the Moscow refinery follows Gazpromneft-MNPZ’s July 2020 commissioning of its 98-billion rubles Euro+ combined oil refining unit (CORU), an integral element of the manufacturing site’s second-phase modernization designed to improve the manufacturing site’s overall environmental performance as well as its yield of light-end, Euro 5-quality petroleum products, including gasoline, diesel, and aviation kerosine (OGJ Online, July 24, 2020).
Scheduled for startup in 2025, the deep oil processing complex—including the hydrocracking and delayed coking plants—comes as part of a third phase of the Moscow refinery’s modernization program that will focus on further improving environmental performance and deepening refining capabilities at the site, according to Gazpromneft-MNPZ.
Upon announcing start of construction on the complex in September, Vitaly Zuber—general director of the Moscow refinery—said the most important area of development at the site remains implementation of environmental projects that coincide with global sustainable development goals.
Initiated in 2011 and scheduled for completion in 2025 at a final estimated cost of 350 billion rubles, the Moscow refinery’s modernization program has included various initiatives allowing the refinery to reduce its premodernization environmental impacts by 50%, with anticipation of another 50% reduction in impacts following completion of all Phase 2 works by yearend 2021 (OGJ Online, Mar. 27, 2020).
Robert Brelsford | Downstream Editor
Robert Brelsford joined Oil & Gas Journal in October 2013 as downstream technology editor after 8 years as a crude oil price and news reporter on spot crude transactions at the US Gulf Coast, West Coast, Canadian, and Latin American markets. He holds a BA (2000) in English from Rice University and an MS (2003) in education and social policy from Northwestern University.
