JSC Gazprom Neft has switched to the exclusive production of Euro 5-standard diesel fuels at its 21.4 million-tonne/year Omsk refinery in Western Siberia, Russia.
In addition to improving product quality specifications, the switchover, which took place during 2014, enabled the refinery to boost its diesel output to 6.3 million tonnes/year, a twofold increase compared with Omsk’s diesel production in 2013, Gazprom Neft said.
Output of high-octane gasoline at Omsk rose 2.5% from the previous year to 4.4 million tonnes in 2014, while the plant’s production of high-octane Premium Euro-95 gasoline increased by 30% to 4.4 million tonnes, the company said.
Crude oil throughputs at the plant nearly reached the refinery’s maximum installed processing capacity during 2014, increasing by 5.2% from 2013 to 21.3 million tonnes.
Omsk’s refining depth (sum of products less fuel oil, dry gas, and liquid fuels) for 2014 increased to 93.02%, up by nearly 2 percentage points from its 2013 refining depth of 91.03%, Gazprom Neft historical data showed.
The refinery’s improved performance in 2014 stems from Gazprom Neft’s program to modernize and upgrade its Russian refineries to improve processing capacities, oil conversion rates, energy efficiency, production quality, and environmental impacts by 2020 (OGJ Online, Dec. 2, 2013).
As part of first-stage modernization work at Omsk, the company commissioned a catalytic-cracking and diesel hydrotreatment complex (OGJ Online, Aug. 2, 2011).
The second phase of the modernization program, which aims to improve the overall yield of light-end refined products, remains under way (OGJ Online, Dec. 3, 2014).
Projects to be carried out at the Omsk refinery include:
• Reconstruction of a catalytic cracking unit.
• Reconstruction of an alkylation unit, which will increase the unit’s production capacity.
• Construction of a grassroots methyl tertiary butyl ether plant.
In December 2013, the company also let a contract to CB&I, Houston, for front-end engineering and design services for multiple process units at Omsk, including a 2 million-tpy hydrocracker unit licensed by Chevron Lummus Global, as well as hydrogen, sulfur, and other associated units (OGJ Online, Dec. 9, 2013).