Russian conglomerate PJSC Sibur Holding, Moscow, plans to expand gas fractionation capacity by 1.4 million tonnes/year (tpy) at its Tobolsk-Neftekhim processing site in Western Siberia’s Tyumen region.
The company’s investment committee has approved a project to boost the plant’s capacity to fractionate raw NGLs to 8 million tpy from its current capacity of 6.6 million tpy, Sibur said.
The project, which will increase capacity of the site’s second gas fractionator to 4.2 million tpy from 2.8 million tpy, specifically will involve installation of equipment for unit internals, as well the addition of heat-exchange and pump equipment.
The expansion also will include construction of a cooling tower and work to expand the unit’s ability to process a wider range of feedstock, Sibur said.
NIPIgazpererabotka, Krasnodar, Russia, a Sibur subsidiary providing general engineering for the expansion, completed all design documents for the project, which already have been approved by Russia’s Glavgosexpertiza (General Board of State Expert Review).
With relevant construction permits for the proposed project in place, Sibur has secured all related major production equipment, for which delivery is now under way, the company said.
The expansion project, which will require an investment of about 5.5 billion rubles, is scheduled to be completed by 2017, according to Sibur.
The company previously expanded Tobolsk’s gas fractionation capacity in March 2014 when it commissioned the site’s second fractionator (OGJ Online, Feb. 20, 2015).
The capacity expansion at Tobolsk comes as part of Sibur’s strategy to continue benefitting from its competitive advantage of access to West Siberian NGL feedstock, said Dmitry Konov, Siber’s chief executive.
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].