Tyumen Oil Co. has signed an agreement for a $198 million loan guarantee from the US Export-Import Bank to modernize the Ryazan refinery, 120 miles southeast of Moscow, said Tyumen Friday. The deal was part of a delayed $672 million loan package.
The Rayazan loan had been in limbo for more than a year because of BP opposition over Tyumen's takeover of Chernogorneft (OGJ Online, Apr. 10, 2000).
"We are anxious to complete our upgrade of Ryazan so that it will serve as a model refinery in Russia for modern petroleum refining," said Tyumen Oil Pres. and CEO Simon Kukes.
Completion of the project is expected in early 2002.
As previously announced, ABB Lummus Global�based in Bloomfield, NJ, and part of the global technology entity ABB Group Ltd.�will work on the Ryazan refinery project.
A Tyumen statement said, "The modernization, already under way, includes an expanded fluid catalytic cracking unit, a new vacuum gas oil hydrotreater, and a number of supporting facilities. When finished, the project will increase diesel fuel output by 16%, gasoline yield by 25%, and high-octane output by 70%. The project will enable the refinery to meet European specifications for fuels through at least 2005."
The refinery will continue to produce unleaded gasoline and low-sulfur diesel fuel, said Tyumen.
In September, an agreement providing for $292 million in loan guarantees was signed in New York (OGJ Online, Sept. 11, 2000). That money will be used to rehabilitate Tyumen Oil's giant Samotlor oil field in Western Siberia.
