OREANDA-NEWS. Gazprom Neft has adopted a mid-term investment program for its Moscow Oil Refinery . The company will invest over 50 billion rubles in modernization of the enterprise in 2013-2015, which will make it possible to implement large-scale projects to improve the quality of the petroleum products the refinery produces, increase the oil conversion rate, reduce the refinery’s environmental impact, and raise its energy efficiency.

In keeping with the mid-term investment program, the company plans to commission a light naphtha isomerization unit and a catalytic cracking gasoline hydrotreatment unit in 2013. The second stage of reconstruction of the LCh-24-2000 diesel fuel hydrotreatment unit will also be completed. This will result in the Moscow Oil Refinery converting completely to the production of grade 5 gasoline per the Russian Federation Technical Regulation. The proportion of grade 5 diesel fuel will exceed 75 percent of the total volume of diesel fuel produced at the Moscow Oil Refinery. Next year, the refinery will complete the second stage of reconstruction of the ELOU-AVT-6 crude oil vacuum distillation unit, which will allow it to increase substantially production of high-quality gasoline and diesel fuel.

One of the key measures in the investment program will be construction of a combined oil refining unit with a capacity of 6 million tons per year. The new complex will bring together the production processes of the various components of high-octane gasoline and summer and winter diesel fuel, which are currently performed at three separate units. This large-scale project, which is slated for completion in 2017, seeks to introduce the most advanced technologies at the Moscow Oil Refinery, to raise the enterprise’s operational readiness, to improve industrial safety and the refinery’s environmental indicators.

Construction of a bitumen modification unit designed to produce 60,000 tons of polymer modified bitumens and 7000 tons of bitumen emulsions per year will begin at the Moscow Oil Refinery in 2013. This will help increase the output of bitumen products significantly, in keeping with the highest international quality standards.

The Moscow Oil Refinery is also planning to implement a number of projects aimed at reducing the refinery’s environmental impact and raising its energy efficiency. The sulfur recovery unit, the chemical treatment unit, the CVK central air compressor unit, the VK-3 air compressor unit, and external and internal power supply infrastructure will be reconstructed in 2013. The company plans to introduce a natural gas supply system at the refinery. All of this will help reduce and stabilize the borders of the refinery’s sanitary protection zone and improve environmental conditions in Southeastern Moscow substantially.