OREANDA-NEWS. Gazprom Neft has established a specialist subsidiary - Gazpromneft - Bitumen Materials LLC - bringing together all management functions pertaining to its bitumen business.

The key objective of the new enterprise will be the fulfilment of the long-term strategy of the Gazprom Neft bitumen business, in terms of delivering greater effectiveness in asset management, in securing market leadership through the adoption and implementation of cutting-edge production technologies, and through the development of promising opportunities, consistent with key industry trends.

The company's revised strategy is predicated on its increasing sales volumes of bitumen materials to 2.4 million tonnes by2025 - something the company plans to achieve by extending its activities in markets throughout Russia, Central Asia and Southern Europe.

Gazprom Neft has significantly increased bitumens production capacity in recent years, both in Russia and throughout the CIS. Modernisation of a major bitumen facility at the company's Moscow Oil Refinery was undertaken in 2012, with the company announcing the purchase of a bitumen factory in Kazakhstan in 2013, as well as the purchase of the most significant polymer-modified bitumen plant in Russia, located in Ryazan. Together with French concern Total the company began production of a new generation of polymer-modified asphalt cements under the G-Way Styrelf brand in 2014.