Contruction activities related to the expansion of OAO Lukoil’s 11 million-tonne/year Volgograd refinery in southern Russia are proceeding as planned, with start-up of units at the plant still on schedule for 2015-16.
Lukoil intends to commission AVT-1, the plant’s 6 million-tpy primary crude distillation unit this year, with a vacuum gas oil (VGO) deep conversion complex due for start-up in first-half 2016, the company said.
AVT-1, which will replace the refinery’s aging crude distillation units, is designed to improve the refinery’s operational efficiency by reducing energy consumption and improving the quality of fractionation products, according to Lukoil’s Fact Book 2013.
The deep-processing complex, which will include a 3.5 million-tpy VGO hydrocracker, as well as units for hydrogen production and sulfur recovery, aims to increase the refinery’s output of Euro 5 diesel by 1.8 million tpy, the company previously said (OGJ Online, Feb. 19, 2013).
