Contracts let for Russian refinery modernization

July 1, 2014
NefteGazIndustriya LLC, through a project developer, has let contracts to CB&I, Houston, to provide technology licenses and front-end engineering and design services for the modernization of its 72,000-b/d Afipsky refinery in Krasnodar, Russia.

NefteGazIndustriya LLC, through a project developer, has let contracts to CB&I, Houston, to provide technology licenses and front-end engineering and design services for the modernization of its 72,000-b/d Afipsky refinery in Krasnodar, Russia.

CB&I’s project scope includes FEED development for multiple process units, including a 2.5-million tonne/year hydrocracker unit licensed by Chevron Lummus Global, hydrogen and sulfur units licensed by CB&I, and other associated units, said CB&I.

The firm also will provide technology and FEED services for a crude distillation unit, vacuum distillation unit, and visbreaker in a complex that will utilize the Shell Soaker Visbreaking technology jointly licensed by CB&I and Shell, according to the service company.

The contracts are valued in excess of $90 million, CB&I said.

The three-phased Afipsky modernization project, which is designed to increase the refinery’s processing capacity and oil conversion ratio in order to improve product quality, will include the expansion and renovation of the existing refinery as well as the construction of a high-conversion refinery at the site, according to NefteGazIndustriya.

Stage 1 will involve the expansion of current production installations to increase the refinery’s crude oil processing capacity to 6 million tpy and to optimize feedstock supply logistics.

Stage 2 of the project will include building a high-conversion refinery in order to lift the site’s oil conversion ratio to 82% and boost production of products with specifications that meet requirements of the Technical Regulations of the Customs Union of Russia.

A third and final stage of the modernization will involve construction of a delayed coking unit designed to increase the complex’s oil conversion ratio to 93% and maximize production of both Euro 5 diesel fuel and light oil, NefteGazIndustriya said.

In addition to the hydrocracking, distillation, and visbreaking units, the high-conversion refining complex also will include a diesel fuel hydrotreater, NefteGazIndustriya said.

While NefteGazIndustriya said Stages 1 and 2 of the project are under implementation, a timetable for the project’s completion has not been disclosed.