OREANDA-NEWS. Rustam Minnikhanov, President of Tatarstan, paid a working visit to the TATNEFT Group of Companies in Nizhnekamsk:  TANECO Refining Complex and OOO "Nizhnekamsk CHP". The event was attended by Rinat Sabirov, Assistant to President of the Republic of Tarastan, Boris Petrov, Head of the Volga Rostekhnadzor Section, Nail Maganov, General Director of PJSC TATNEFT and other officials.

The visit to TANECO began with a tour of the Refining Complex facilities under construction. The visit participants familiarized with the progress of work at the naphtha splitter installation intended for obtaining close-cut gasoline fractions. The construction of the facility mostly involved local professionals, domestic technologies and equipment. The installation has become one of the examples of the import-substituting industrialization strategy applied in the implementation of the TANECO project. SUE "Bashgiproneftekhim" is the general designer of the facility and JSC "Vostokneftezavodmontazh" is the general contractor. The main suppliers of equipment are   "NATEK-Neftehimmash" Research and Production Association, Bugulma Mechanical Plant of PJSC TATNEFT, electric pump units production “ENA" Company, "TREM" Company, Naberezhnye Chelny Crane Factory and JSC "Elektroshchit".

The guests got acquainted with the construction of the second CDU-AVT-6 installation for the primary distillation of crude oil. Completion of the installation works at the facility scheduled for the end of 2017 will allow increasing the volume of crude oil refining at TANECO to 14 million tonnes per year. Consequently, the total annual crude oil refining capacity in the Republic will amount to about 23 million tonnes. The General Designer of the installation is OOO "INCO-TEK", major equipment suppliers are: Bugulma Mechanical Plant, OOO "Izhevskhimmash", JSC "ENA", JSC "Penzhimmash" and other Russian companies. Construction of CDU-AVT-6 was the beginning of the TANECO’s project second phase implementation. In general, the development of the Refining Complex is progressing in accordance with the quadripartite agreement between oil companies, FAS Russia, Rostekhnadzor and Rosstandart aimed at deepening the processing of hydrocarbons.

At the end of the tour of the Refining Complex Rustam Minnikhanov and his entourage visited the compressor and the instrument technical room of the delayed coking unit (DCU) of the Complex, where commissioning operations are currently underway. The DCU design feed rate is 2 million tonnes per year. Commissioning of the unit will allow bringing the oil refining depth up to 95% and completely eliminating the yield dark oil products. The General Designer of the unit is OOO "Lukoil-Nizhegorodniinefteproekt". 80 percent of the unit’s equipment is of domestic origin. During the construction, TATNEFT committed itself to the previously chosen course of strengthening the cooperation with Russian manufacturers. The DCU will produce easily decomposable coke naphtha, heavy and light coke  gas oil, sour hydrocarbon gas and petroleum coke, which is planned to be used at the Nizhnekamsk CHP.

While selecting a coke utilization project in the Nizhnekamsk CHP professionals estimated the economic parameters and environmentally friendliness of the process. Initially they had advanced the most stringent requirements of the flue gas quality after combustion of petroleum coke. Therefore, a partial transition to the alternative fuel will not lead to expanding the boundaries of the existing sanitary protection zone of Nizhnekamsk.

As part of the planned activities Rustam Minnikhanov took part in the launch of a new 350 MW power unit at the upgraded Nizhnekamsk CHP. TATNEFT started the station’s large-scale modernization in 2011. The project’s objective is to increase the station’s electric power generation capacity from 380 to 730 MW by installing two new low-grade steam production turbines of the Ural Pipe Plant and putting into operation the previously mothballed generating equipment.

JSC "Urals Energy Engineering Center" (Yekaterinburg) acted as a General Designer of the works with the functions of the customer assigned to the Construction Projects Implementation Department (URPS) of PJSC TATNEFT. Such companies as "KER-Holding" Management Company, "Neftehimzavodstroy" Construction Company, "Glavneftegazstroyservis" Management Company, OOO "Tatspetsneftehimmontazh" Management Company, OOO "Spetsenergomontazh", JSC "TEM", OOO "TMIM", OOO "KamEnergoRemont", OOO "Kit-Stroy" and OOO "Accord A" were involved as a contractors to perform construction works. TATNEFT has already spent more than eight and a half billion rubles for the construction of new facilities and reconstruction of the existing ones.

Before the ceremony of starting the facility Boris Petrov, Head of the Volga Rostekhnadzor Section, handed to Nail Maganov, General Director of TATNEFT, the opinion on the new equipment compliance with the technical regulations and the project documentation, which was an official permit to operate the facility. Jointly pressing the start button Rustam Minnikhanov, Tatarstan President, Nail Maganov, General Director of TATNEFT, and Shafagat Takhautdinov, Assistant to President of the Republic of Tatarstan on the oil industry and Advisor to Chairman of the PJSC TATNEFT’s Board of Directors fed new kilowatts into the grid. This marked the completion of the first modernization phase of OOO " Nizhnekamsk HPP"

The objective of second phase of the CHP modernization is the partial station’s transition to a new type of fuel - petroleum coke, which production will begin at the TANECO Complex in 2016.

The issues of further development of the Project were discussed during the meeting with the leaders of the construction and start-up organizations. Presentations were made by Leonid Alekhin, General Director of JSC TANECO and Nikolai Zaikin, Head of PJSC TATNEFT’s Construction Projects Implementation Department (URPS).

Concluding the event, President of the Republic greeted the participants with Happy New Year 2016.