Lukoil commissions new unit at Volgograd refinery

PJSC Lukoil subsidiary OOO Lukoil Volgogradneftepererabotka has commissioned a new deasphalting plant at its 14.8-million tonnes/year Volgograd refinery in southern Russia (OGJ Online, Oct. 14, 2019).

The new plant, which also includes a fractionation unit, entered operation on Jan. 29, Lukoil said in a release.

Part of Lukoil’s ongoing 172-billion rouble investment over the years to modernize the Volgograd refinery, the new 10-billion rouble plant comes as part of the operator’s program to upgrade its lubricants production assets to deliver high-quality finished products complying with international environmental standards to help reduce Russia’s reliance on importing these products from abroad, the company said.

The new plant’s production of high-viscosity base stocks will enable the refinery to produce engine oils with increased oxidation resistance suitable for use in industrial vehicles and cargo trucks operating in rough environments and cold weather.

Alongside the newly commissioned deasphalting plant, the Volgograd refinery also is continuing construction of the second stage of its 20-Mw solar power plant (SPP) that—scheduled for startup in 2021—will increase the site’s SPP total capacity up to 30 Mw and provide an additional 24 million kw-hr of green energy annually, which is equivalent to a 12,000-tpy reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, Lukoil said.

As part of the broader program to modernize its Russian refining system, Lukoil said by yearend 2021 it will commission a new isomerization unit as well as a 2.1-million tpy delayed coking complex at subsidiary LLC Lukoil Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez’s (NNOS) 17-million tpy Kstovo refinery in central Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region (OGJ Online, Sept. 10, 2020;  Aug. 30, 2018; Nov. 2, 2017).

Between 2011-20, Lukoil said it has invested over 163 billion roubles on the modernization of its Russian refineries.