Gazprom Neft has begun groundworks for the reconstruction of the atmospheric residue deep conversion complex at its Omsk Refinery

Reconstruction of this facility, first brought into production in 1994, is being undertaken as part of a wide-ranging modernisation programme at the Omsk Refinery.

General Director of the Gazprom Neft Omsk Refinery, Oleg Belyavskiy, commented: “Modernisation of the KT-1/1 facility will allow the refinery, as early as 2016, to make the transfer to 100-percent production of high-octane (super-grade) Euro-5 standard gasolines, as well as increasing production of these by 30 percent”.

The ecological standards of the fuels will also be improved: following reconstruction, the sulphur content of items produced at this facility will be reduced two- or three-fold.

Adjacent to the existing KT-1/1 facility a construction site has been prepared, on which major works are currently being undertaken to allow the installation of equipment. Erection of an overhead trestle bridge to support cable conduits from the construction site is now being completed, and installation of a regenerator and cupola reactor, specifically designed for the Omsk Refinery by the Uralmash-Izhora Group, is in hand.

May 2015 will see components for a crane with a weight-bearing capacity of 1,350 tonnes being brought into play: technology for which is being brought to Siberia from Nizhnekamsk, Tatarstan, and which will be used in the installation of major equipment with a total weight of 750 tonnes.

Work on preparing the facility for reconstruction will continue until September 2015. Reconstruction is expected to take 55 days, with modernisation of the atmospheric residue deep conversion complex expected to be complete by November 2015.

Total investment in the reconstruction of the complex now stands at six billion rubles.

The Gazprom Neft Omsk Refinery, a subsidiary of Gazprom Neft, is among the most advanced in Russia, and one of the largest in the world, with a total installed capacity of 21.4 million tonnes of crude oil per year.

The main technological processes used at the Omsk refinery are deionisation and dehydration of crude oil, primary distillation, catalytic cracking, sulphuric acid alkylation, catalytic reforming, diesel hydro-refining, and production of aromatic hydrocarbons.

The Omsk facility produces in the order of 50 types of oil products, including high-octane gasolines, diesel and marine (bunkering) fuels, aviation kerosene, bitumen, household gas, heavy fuel oil (mazut), industrial sulphur, and other products consistent with market demand.