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REFINERY NEWS ROUNDUP: Russian refineries reduce run rates

Russian refineries of all sizes are expected to reduce throughput in October due to poor refinery economics.

Gasoline prices fell at the start of the month and although they have rebounded somewhat since then, refinery economics remain under pressure, exacerbated by bearish export markets.

Russian refineries processed 21.664 million mt (about 5.27 million b/d) of crude in September, down 7.9% year on year and down 4.1% from August, according to energy ministry data. The drop in throughput was due to seasonal maintenance and poor refinery economics. A number of refineries, including Angarsk, Ryazan, Kirishi, Salavat and some in the Ufa refinery hub, carried out autumn maintenance in September. Maintenance work is continuing in October but is expected to come to an end at the start of November.

Underpinning the lower refinery throughput, crude deliveries at the start of the month were suspended to some medium-sized simple refineries in southern Russia but subsequently resumed.

Crude deliveries to Russia’s Afipsky and Slavyansk refineries have resumed, crude oil pipeline operator Transneft said Oct. 9.

Previously Transneft said deliveries to the two refineries had halted.

Afipsky is responding to the current market situation of reduced oil product demand due to rising COVID-19 cases in Europe, the company said Oct. 5, adding that the refinery is not planning to halt work.

Both refineries, situated in southern Russia, are export-oriented.

Medium-sized export-oriented refineries in southern Russia, which predominantly export fuel oil and middle distillates as feedstock, are reducing run rates in response to weak oil product demand in the export markets, according to sources.

Exports of oil products along the pipeline system over January-September rose 5.9% on the year to 21.6 million mt, Transneft said. But domestic deliveries were down 8.8% during the first nine months of the year at 7.3 million mt. In the third quarter alone, domestic deliveries of oil products by pipeline fell 6.3% year on year. Diesel is predominantly transported via pipeline. While diesel demand has been less affected by the spring lockdown, it also declined as commercial traffic decreased with some small businesses closing.

NEW AND ONGOING MAINTENANCE, UPGRADES, LAUNCHES

Near-term maintenance

New and revised entries

** September maintenance at Russia’s Kirishi refinery has been completed, according to sources on Oct. 6.

Existing entries

** There will be minor works at Russia’s Ukhta and Norsi refineries in October, according to trading sources. The two refineries had more substantial works in Q2.

** Russia’s Komsomolsk will stop selling gasoline and diesel on Russia’s St. Petersburg exchange due to the start of maintenance, market sources said in late September. The refinery is set to carry out works on its primary processing ELOU-AVT-2 and the diesel hydrotreater.

** Works are expected in October at Russia’s Perm and Volgograd refineries, according to sources. Russia’s Perm was planning works in H2 2020, according to tender documents, including to a catcracker and hydrocracker. The refinery also carried out partial works in May-June. Maintenance at Russia’s Volgograd was planned for the autumn, sources said previously.

** Russia’s Taneco refinery started planned maintenance on a number of units, it said Sept. 17. The works involve the hydrocracker, the hydrogen unit, the base oils and sulfur production units. Maintenance is due to be completed Oct. 15.

** Russia’s Taif has deferred the start of its autumn refinery turnaround to the end of September, a source close to the refinery said. Typically the refinery starts works in early September.

** Some of the planned maintenance at Russia’s Orsk has been completed, according to an in-house magazine. Works on the CDU-VDU complex, which were affected by restrictions imposed to combat the coronavirus spread, have been completed, with works on some of the units completed ahead of plan. Furthermore works were carried out on the hydrocracker, the bitumen unit, the catalytic reformer L 35 11/300. Russia’s Orsk refinery plans works on 11 units in 2020, the refinery said.

Upgrades

New and revised entries

**Ukraine’s largest oil refinery UkrTatNafta opened its isomerization unit at Kremenchuk after a three-year construction project, which will improve production of high-octane gasoline, the company reported. The unit, which cost Hryvnia 788 million ($30 million) to build, will save the refinery about $50 million annually on imports of special MTBE additives, UkrTatNafta said. The unit, which was built in cooperation with Axens and Honeywell UOP, is capable of producing 350,000 mt of isomerate annually. Kremenchuk-based UkrTatNafta has mostly focused on supplies of domestically extracted crude oil and on getting tanker shipments of oil from Azerbaijan, the US and Libya.

** Russia’s Norsi refinery continues work on a residue processing complex, the company said Oct. 14. Work on the complex which includes delayed coker, diesel hydrotreater, gas fractionation, hydrogen and sulfur units, started in 2018. It has 2.1 million mt/yr feedstock capacity. The complex will lead to substantial reduction of fuel oil output and will increase the depth of processing to 95.5%. S&P Global Platts has reported previously that the launch was due for 2021 and that McDermott International has been awarded an engineering, procurement and construction contract by Lukoil for the delayed coker at the Nizhny Novgorod refinery.

Existing entries

** Gazprom Neft said it has started assembly of electricity equipment at the catalytic cracker at its Omsk refinery as part of the unit’s upgrade which aims at increasing the output of high octane components. The company previously said that it has completed the installation of the upgraded L 35/11-600 catalytic reformer. Two new compressors have been installed and three have been upgraded. Work is due for completion in 2020. The refinery recently completed the installation of the main equipment of the diesel hydrotreater and dewaxer unit, currently under construction. The unit will have 2.5 million mt/year of feedstock capacity and will enable the refinery to replace two outdated units. It will be completed in 2021. Gazprom Neft had also started testing the equipment of the deep processing complex at Omsk, currently under construction. The testing includes pressurization of heat exchangers and pumps. The hydrogen unit will be tested first, followed by the hydrocracker. Once the testing is completed the complex could be launched in test mode. The 2 million mt/year complex will enable the refinery to increase the depth of processing and regulate the yields of gasoline, jet fuel and lubricants feedstock. Construction is due for completion in 2021. Omsk has also completed the installation of its new delayed coker. The 2 million mt/year unit will help halt fuel oil output, increase coke production and the depth of processing to 97% and light products yield to 80%. It will produce 38,700 mt/year of needle coke, which is used in the production of electrodes for the steel and aluminum industries. It is part of the deep processing complex at Omsk. The new delayed coker unit and upgrades to its existing coker are set to be completed in 2021. Omsk has also completed the installation of the main equipment at the primary CDU-VDU processing complex. The complex, with 8.4 million mt/year capacity, will be completed in 2021, and will allow the refinery to take six outdated units out of service. Separately, the refinery started a project to upgrade the AVT-10 primary processing complex, which has a capacity of 8.6 million mt/year. The project is due to be completed by the end of 2021.

** Kyrgyzneftegaz plans to upgrade its Jalal-Abad refinery, according to local media reports. The company has issued a tender for development of feasibility study. The refinery processes 500,000 mt/year of crude oil as well as small amounts of gas condensate and distillates. The refinery was built in 1996, according to the company site. Its strategy involves a unit for secondary processing of fuel oil.

** Russia’s Perm is working on a deep processing complex which will increase the refinery’s depth of processing, according to media reports, citing Lukoil’s President Vagit Alekperov. The project’s timeline is 2020-2025. The complex includes a catalytic cracker, diesel hydrotreater, hydrogen unit, alkylation unit.

** Uzbekistan’s Bukhara will use Honeywell UOP technology to increase crude conversion and produce Euro-5 standard gasoline and diesel “in compliance with the government of Uzbekistan’s stricter specifications for fuel products taking effect in 2023,” Honeywell said in a statement Sept. 8. Honeywell will provide “licensing and basic engineering design services” for a new naphtha hydrotreating, RFCC, SelectFining and Merox units. The existing diesel hydrotreater will be revamped. Uzbekneftegaz has decided to proceed with an upgrade of its Bukhara and Fergan refineries and put on hold building a new refinery in the Jizzakh region, it has said previously. Uzbekneftegaz along with Ernst & Young is realizing a project for increasing efficiency at its production assets including at the refineries at Bukhara and Chinaz.

** Russia’s Salavat refinery has launched a hydrogen unit, part of the large scale modernization. The launch would enable the refinery to increase Euro 5 products output. The hydrogen will be used in the gasoline hydrotreater unit, part of the new FCC complex under construction. Russia’s Salavat is also due to launch a new new FCC in 2020, it said previously in an in-house magazine. The FCC will have feedstock capacity of 1.095 million mt/year.

** Russia’s Rosneft continues with completion of the hydrocracker complexes at four of its refineries — Komsomolsk, Achinsk, Tuapse and Novokuybishev, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin told Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to minutes from the meeting. The new complexes will allow the reduction of heavy oil products output, whose demand is declining, while increasing the light products yield by 24%. 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.

** Russia’s Ryazan has started reconstruction of its primary processing unit AVT-2. The upgrade of the 2 million mt/year CDU will enable the refinery to reduce the output of high sulfur fuel oil and improve the refinery’s economics. In 2019, Ryazan completed a catalytic reformer upgrade by changing the reactors. Following the works, the unit will have maintenance once every three years. The refinery has also upgraded the control system of the diesel hydrotreater and has optimized the purification system of the FCC unit. As part of its modernization it has launched a new isomerization unit.

** Russia’s Ilsky refinery, which is building a new 3.6 million mt/year CDU, has installed the columns at the unit, dubbed ELOU AT-6. The launch of the unit is aimed for the end of 2020. The refinery previously said it expects the new unit to help increase capacity to 6.6 million mt/year.

** The Euro+ complex at Russia’s Moscow refinery was officially launched July 23. Russia’s Moscow refinery will complete its modernization by 2025, when as part of a third phase it will halt the production of fuel oil and achieve 99% depth of processing.

** Turkish construction group Tekfen has been awarded contracts worth around $237 million for the ongoing refurbishment and modernization of Socar’s Heydar Aliyev refinery in Baku, the company said. The contracts were awarded by the refinery’s main contractor Tecnicas Reunidas to Azfen, a 40% owned subsidiary of Tekfen Holding’s main construction arm, Tekfen Insaat ve Tesisat A.S. A Socar official said June 8 that work on refurbishing the refinery had been affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Previously the target for production of the Euro 5 fuels had been the end of 2021, and prior to that the end of 2020 for Euro-5 diesel and early 2021 for Euro-5 standard A-92/95/98. Ongoing work on the refinery includes replacing all the units except one and in the process increasing the capacity to 7.5 million mt/year from 6 million mt/year. An official said it was unclear whether all work on the refinery will now be completed by 2024-25 as had previously been planned.

** Russian oil company Tatneft said it has completed the installation of a deisobutanizer at its Taneco refinery. The unit separates isobutane from normal butane with 350,000 mt/year feedstock capacity. The isobutane will be used as feedstock for the company’s Tolyattikauchuk petrochemical plant for the production of synthetic rubber. Taneco aims to complete a 1.1 million mt/year FCC construction in 2020 as well as a 3.7 million mt/year distillates hydrotreater. In 2021, the company aims to complete construction of a second delayed coker with 2 million mt/year capacity. It has two operating CDUs with 15.3 million mt/year total capacity, a 2.9 million mt/year hydrocracker, 420,000 mt/year isomerization and 714,000 mt/year reformer units, a 2 million mt delayed coker as well as a 1.6 million mt/year diesel, 1.1 million mt/year naphtha and 0.5 million mt/year kerosene hydrotreaters. The refinery aims to process 11.456 million mt of crude oil and 719,800 mt other feedstock this year.

** Kazakhstan’s Pavlodar refinery is looking to build a unit for the purification of LPG and has selected a Merox technology. The refinery, which is processing mostly Western Siberian crude, said that recently the mercaptan sulfur content has increased and as the existing units cannot remove the mercaptans, this deteriorates the LPG’s quality.

** Belarus’ Mozyr refinery is preparing for the launch of its new H-Oil hydrocracker, according to the country’s Belta news agency. The equipment for the main feedstock pumps has been installed. The complex includes hydrocracker, hydrogen and sulfur units. The completion of the hydrocracker H-Oil complex at Mozyr will cut fuel oil output and increase light products. The quality of the fuel oil output will improve to less than 1% sulfur. 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%. Belarus Naftan has started testing the new delayed coker, while construction works are ongoing. The coker is expected to be completed and fully launched this year.

** The launch of four secondary units at the Mariisky refinery has been delayed, according to media reports. As per plans, after upgrades it expects to increase the 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 modernization of Russia’s Afipsky refinery has entered an active phase, the company said. It includes a hydrocracker, construction of which is under way. The complex, planned to process 2.5 million mt/year feedstock, is set for launch in the second half of 2022. In addition, the refinery plans to build a delayed coker.

** Russia’s crude pipeline operator Transneft has started sending Urals crude to the Ilsky refinery via the newly completed pipeline. It previously said shipments to Ilsky would start in 2019 and to the Afipsky refinery in 2020, both in the Krasnodar region. The pipeline’s capacity is 4.5 million mt/year and can potentially be expanded to 9 million mt/year. Deliveries to Afispky will start after completion of upgrades, scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2020. Of the pipeline’s capacity, 3 million mt/year will be delivered to Afispky and 1.5 million mt to Ilsky. The trunk line can be connected to two main pipelines: Tikhoretsk-Novorossiisk-2 and -3 and thus can be connected to the Urals pipeline and to the pipeline delivering Siberian Light to Novorossiisk, increasing the flexibility of supplies.

** Russia’s Orsk has started a second phase of modernization, a key of which will be a delayed coker complex. Its completion in 2023 will provide additional feedstock for the hydrocracker, which was brought online in 2018, as well as increasing the depth of processing to over 98% and the light products yield to 84%.

** The Yaisky refinery is working on a deep processing complex, which will enable it to produce gasoline. The complex includes a gasoline hydrotreater, isomerization and CCR unit. It will produce over 700,000 mt/year Euro 5 gasoline.

** Russia’s Rosneft has reported progress on 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 under way for reconstruction of the gas fractionation column of a crude distillation unit, while at the Ufaneftekhim refinery, repairs continue at the hydrocracker following incidents. Russia’s Bashneft, majority owned by Rosneft, issued a tender for the reconstruction of the hydrocracker at Ufaneftekhim in late 2019. The unit was damaged in a fire in July 2016.

** Russia’s Novoshakhtinsky refinery, in the Rostov region, is starting work on a project aimed at starting production of Euro-5 gasoline, the regional governor said. Completion is targeted for 2027. The plant has a 5 million mt/year nameplate capacity and was launched in 2009.

** The next stage of upgrades at the Antipinsky refinery in Russia involves increasing the capacity of crude and refined product pipelines. Antipinsky, which can process 9 million-9.5 million mt/year of crude, currently receives 7.5 million mt/year of crude.

** A delayed coker will be installed at the Turkmenbashi refining complex in Turkmenistan.

Launches

Existing entries

** Rosneft has shelved a plan to build a new refinery and petrochemical complex in the Far East due to changes in taxation, but can resume the project provided profitability can be guaranteed.

** A new refinery is planned to be launched in Georgia, at the Black Sea port of Kulevi, in 2024, according to media reports. Construction of the 4 million mt/year plant is due to start in 2021, according to Fazis Oil, the reports said. The refinery is expected to have 98% depth of processing and produce Euro 5 and 6 gasoline and diesel and thus reduce Georgia’s import needs for oil products by 15%-20%.

** Russia’s Khabarovsk refinery plans to build a second phase to the plant close to the existing site, according to 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 for the second phase, which includes an FCC, hydrotreater and delayed coker.
Source: Platts

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