Annual autumn maintenance is starting at Russian refineries, with works scheduled to be carried out in September and October.
Meanwhile, Russia's Komsomolsk refinery which has been connected, via an offshoot, to the ESPO pipeline, is now receiving crude shipments via pipeline and has stopped railcar deliveries, an official from Rosneft said during an first-half results presentation.
Russia's oil pipeline operator Transneft said previously that the filling of the pipeline started in early July.
"Previously the transportation of oil was done by rail, which was about 10 days en route," said Rosneft first vice president for economics and finance Pavel Fedorov, adding that the switch away from rail resulted in "a dramatic reduction of overall costs by about 45%" and will also lead to "an extra 1 million mt of refined products per year."
The process of connecting the refinery to the pipeline has been delayed by more than a year after Transneft completed works on the 300 km trunk pipeline from ESPO to the refinery. The delay has been due to various checks and tests, Transneft has said.
NEAR-TERM
NEW AND REVISED ENTRIES
--Russia's Taif is due to start maintenance in September, according to a source close to the refinery. It is expected to be back in October.
--A host of Russian refineries are set to carry out works that start in September or October and end around November. Those include Gazprom Neft's Omsk and Moscow, Rosneft's Ufa and Ufaneftekhim from the Ufa refining hub and Syzran from the Samara refining hub, as well as Rosneft's Saratov, according to sources.
--Russia's Salavat refinery is set to undergo partial maintenance, a source close to the refinery said. The maintenance will be carried most likely in September and October, according to market sources.
--Surgutneftegaz's Kirishi refinery, Northwest Russia, is in maintenance throughout August, sources said. The refinery is likely to return to normal operations in September, a source said.
--Surgutneftegaz's Kirishi refinery, Northwest Russia, is back from August maintenance in August, according to sources.
EXISTING ENTRIES
--Russia's Angarsk is carrying out maintenance since August, according to market sources.
--Azerbaijan's Heydar Aliyev refinery will shut for "regular maintenance" in October, as progress continues on modernization work, state company Socar said. A Socar spokesman did not specify units to be shut down. He described the work as general maintenance, and noted a similar shutdown last year had lasted about a month. Once modernization is complete at the end of 2020 or beginning of 2021, further shutdowns may be less prolonged, he said. Socar said in December it had completed the first phase of modernization, commissioning the bitumen unit and LPG filling station, increasing bitumen production capacity to 400,000 mt/year from 250,000 mt/year. The second stage, to be completed by the end of 2020, will enable production of Euro-5 diesel.
The third phase, enabling production of Euro-5 standard A-92/95/98 gasoline, is scheduled for completion in early 2021. The revamp will increase total throughput capacity to 7.7 million mt/year, while meeting domestic demand for high quality fuels and supplying feedstock for petrochemical subsidiary Azerkimya.
UPGRADES
NEW AND REVISED ENTRIES
--Russian oil company Tatneft said in late August the new primary processing unit ELOU-AVT-6 at its Taneco refinery had been officially launched. It started testing the 6 million mt/year unit in June. Its new 6 million mt/year unit primary processing complex will help it increase throughput to 15.3 million mt/year "in the next few years" and increase depth of processing to 99% with 84% light products yield. Tatneft also said the next stage of its modernization program will be the launch of a new catalytic cracker. It will help increase gasoline production to 1.8 million mt/year. Diesel output is set to grow to 7.5 million mt/year by 2026.
--97% of the equipment in the hydrocracker H-Oil complex at Belarus' Mozyr is assembled, the country's Belta news agency reported. The hydrocracker is 59% complete, the hydrogen unit 73% and the sulfur unit 70%. The complex, with feedstock capacity of 3 million mt/year, will increase the light products yield to 70% and the depth of processing to 90%. The upgrade projects at Belarus Mozyr and Naftan are due to be completed in November, Belta reported citing information from Belneftekhim earlier this year. Mozyr is currently building a hydrocracker H-Oil complex, while Naftan is working on a delayed coker. The construction and assembly should be completed in November 2019 after which the new units will be started in a test mode.
--Russia's Salavat refinery is currently operating its new hydrogen unit in a test mode. It will fully meet the refinery's hydrogen needs. The unit, with 25,000 cu m/hour capacity, will help increase the output of Euro 5 motor fuel.
The refinery is also working on an FCC due for launch around 2020, it said previously.
EXISTING ENTRIES
--Gazprom Neft said that its Omsk refinery is to get Russian-made equipment form the Ijor factories for the diesel hydrotreater and dewaxing complex, currently under construction. The new complex,with a 2.5 million mt/year capacity, will replace two outdated units and will double the production of winter and arctic diesel grades. The new complex will also allow the refinery to process the increased amount of gasoil following the launch of the delayed coker. The construction is part of the second stage of the refinery modernization. The second stage also includes a new CDU-VDU and a deep processing complex. The company has previously said that was due for completion in 2021. Omsk refinery has completed the installation of a key equipment from the catalytic reformer L 35/11-600 aimed to increase the output of high octane components. The modernization of the reformer unit is set for completion for 2020. The upgraded reformer will secure the efficient processing of feedstock from two delayed cokers, also due for launch in 2020.
By 2021, Russia's Omsk will complete two stages of its modernization, which started in 2007. Gazprom Neft said it has completed installing part of the CDU-VDU complex. The 8.4 million mt/year complex will allow the refinery to take outdated equipment out of service and increase the energy efficiency of the refinery.
--Russia's Novoshakhtinsky refinery, Rostov Region, is starting work on a new project aimed at production of Euro 5 gasoline, the regional governor said, as quoted by ITAR-TASS news agency. Work on the project will start by the end of 2019 with completion aimed by 2027. The plant has 5 million mt/yr nameplate capacity and was launched in 2009. In 2014 a bitumen unit was built with 700,000 mt/yr capacity while in 2015 the construction of a second CDU with 2.5 million mt/yr capacity was completed.
--Russia's Rosneft reported progress of various upgrade projects. In Yaroslavl, owned by Rosneft and Gazprom Neft through Slavneft, a project has been approved for the construction of a deep processing complex. At the company's Achinsk refinery works are underway for reconstruction of the gas fractionation column of a crude distillation unit while at the Ufaneftekhim refinery continued the repairs of the hydrocracker following incidents.
--The second stage of modernization at Azerbaijan's Heydar Aliyev refinery, to be completed by the end of 2020, will enable production of Euro-5 diesel. The third phase, enabling production of Euro-5 standard A-92/95/98 gasoline, is scheduled for completion in early 2021. The revamp will increase total throughput capacity to 7.7 million mt/year, while meeting domestic demand for high quality fuels and supplying feedstock for petrochemical subsidiary Azerkimya. The Heydar Aliyev refinery is being created through the merger, modernization and reconstruction of two existing refineries, the Azerneftyag and Baku plants, begun in 2015. The revamped facility will consist of 14 new units.
--Russia's Orsk plans to start building a delayed coker this year.
Construction is expected to start in the autumn. Completion and launch are planned for 2023. Separately, the refinery is expecting to complete construction this year on a new unit for the vacuum distillation of fuel oil, which will secure more VGO feedstock. The equipment is currently being installed. It already has two VDU units as part of the two primary processing complexes -- ELOU-AVT and ELOU-AVT 3 with the latter having 1.8 million mt/yr feedstock capacity. But the refinery needs more VGO for the new hydrocracker, which was brought online last summer. Orsk plans to carry out works on 11 units this year.
--Uzbekneftegaz has decided to postpone the building of a new plant in the Jizzakh region, the company said in a statement. It has decided instead to proceed with an upgrade of the Bukhara and Fergan refineries. Preliminary technical and economic concepts for the projects had been prepared for the two plants in 2013-2014 by Honeywell UOP and Axens, the company also said.
Currently talks for determining the concepts are under way upon whose conclusion the projects will be finalized. They are aimed to enable the two refineries to produce Euro 5 products. Upon the completion of the upgrades, a restart of the Jizzakh construction will be considered.
--The Yaisky refinery is currently working on deep processing complex which will enable it to produce gasoline. It includes a gasoline hydrotreater, isomerization and CCR type of reformer. The launch is expected by the end of 2019. It will produce over 700,000 mt/year Euro 5 gasoline.
--McDermott International said in October 2018 it was awarded an engineering, procurement and construction contract by Lukoil for the delayed coker at the Nizhny Novgorod refinery in Russia. The delayed coker, which will process 2.1 million mt/year of residues, will be part of a deep processing complex, including a delayed coker, a diesel hydrotreater, gas fractionation, hydrogen and sulfur units. The complex has been scheduled for a 2021 start-up.
--The next stage of upgrades at New Stream Group's Antipinsky refinery in Russia involves some upgrades as well as increasing the capacity of the crude and refined product pipelines. Antipinsky, which can process 9-9.5 million mt/year of crude, currently gets 7.5 million mt/year of crude.
--The Afipsky refinery had received equipment for a new hydrocracker. The VGO hydrocracker, with a 2.5 million mt/year feedstock capacity, will increase the light products yield by a third and allow the refinery to reach 80% depth of processing. Construction is expected to be completed by the end of 2020. The refinery has started a modernization project that involves increasing primary processing capacity to 9 million mt/year from 6 million mt/year. It also involves increasing the depth of processing to 93% from 77%. The modernization envisages construction of a hydrocracker, diesel hydrotreater, delayed coker and a CDU. An additional crude pipeline will also be built.
--The next stage of the upgrade at New Stream's Mariisky refinery in Russia of the two units will increase AT-2's capacity to 1.4 million mt/year from 900,000 mt/year and the VDU capacity to 1 million mt/year from 476,000 mt/year. The refinery is expected to process 1.5 million mt in 2018, potentially rising to 1.7 million-1.8 million mt in 2019.
--The Moscow refinery is completing construction of its Euro plus (Euro+) complex, which is the key part of the second stage of a modernization, Gazprom said. Its launch is scheduled for 2019. Construction of the complex, which includes hydro treating, catalytic cracking, a catalytic reformer and visbreaking units, started in 2016. It will enable the refinery to take five outdated units offline.
--The Afipsky and Ilsky (Yilsky) facilities in the Krasnodar region have been undergoing upgrades, including building hydrotreaters at both plants which will enable them to process higher sulfur Urals crude. They now receive low sulfur Siberian Light crude, but crude pipeline operator Transneft will start building a pipeline in southern Russia with a 4.5 million mt/year capacity that will ship Urals crude to them to stimulate processing in the Krasnodar region. Ilsky, which expected to start receiving Urals crude in the fourth quarter of 2019, has five CDUs, and has been building another CDU, AT-6, which will help increase its capacity to 6.6 million mt/year. Ilsky is also planning a gasoline complex, including a CCR unit, isomerization unit, gasoline hydrotreater, plus a distillate hydrotreater, hydrocracker and delayed coker.
--A delayed coker will be installed at the Turkmenbashi refining complex in Turkmenistan.
--Rosneft, Russia's largest crude producer, plans to complete its refinery modernization program by 2025. The program includes construction and reconstruction of over 50 units, with work on more than 30 of the units having been finished.
LAUNCHES
EXISTING ENTRIES
--Uzbekneftegaz has decided to postpone the building of a new plant in the Jizzakh region, the company said in a statement. It has decided instead to proceed with an upgrade of the Bukhara and Fergan refineries. Preliminary technical and economic concepts for the projects had been prepared for the two plants in 2013-2014 by Honeywell UOP and Axens, the company also said.
Currently talks for determining the concepts are under way upon whose conclusion the projects will be finalized. They are aimed to enable the two refineries to produce Euro 5 products. Upon the completion of the upgrades, a restart of the Jizzakh construction will be considered.
--Russia's Khabarovsk refinery plans to build a second phase to the plant close to the existing site, according to media reports. The second phase would double the refinery's capacity to 10 million mt/year, and aims to cover gasoline demand in the far east of Russia. The company is seeking an investor in the Asia-Pacific region for the second phase of the plant, which includes an FCC, hydrotreater and a delayed coker.
