OREANDA-NEWS The Gazprom Neft Omsk Refinery has begun preparations for the construction of a closed waste treatment facility. This new environmental initiative at the Omsk Refinery, by decree of the Government of the Russian Federation, forms part of the federal plan for a series of activities under the auspices of Russia’s Year of Ecology. The project is an adjunct to the wider programme for the modernisation of Gazprom Neft’s refining assets, one of the key priorities of which is the consistent reduction of environmental impacts. Gazprom Neft’s investment in the construction of new treatment facilities is currently in the order of RUB17 billion.

The new treatment facility will include a multistage water treatment system involving mechanical, physical—chemical and biological treatments, as well as carbon filtration and ultra-violet disinfection. The technological solutions built into the multi-stage treatment system will allow a 17-fold reduction in the total floor space allocated to treatment facilities at the Omsk Refinery, while simultaneously increasing production by 20 percent. The use of cutting-edge technologies will reduce impacts on local sewage systems, by ensuring 70 percent of water is returned to the enterprise’s production cycle.

The project has been developed by the Russian design institute, Omskneftekhimproject. The new treatment facilities are expected to be commissioned in 2019.

The Gazprom Neft Omsk Refinery, a subsidiary of Gazprom Neft, is Russia’s largest such facility by refining volumes, and one of the most cutting-edge refineries in the country. It stands among the country’s leading refineries in terms of refining depth and yield of light petroleum products.

Gazprom Neft has been implementing an extensive modernisation programme at its Omsk Refinery since 2008. The first stage of modernisation of the Omsk Refinery, completed in 2015, involved the construction and refurbishment of key technological facilities, allowing the business to transition to 100-percent production of Euro-5 motor fuels, improve energy efficiency and reduce the environmental impacts of production by 36 percent. A further reduction of 28 percent will also be achieved through the implementation of various projects forming the second phase of modernisation, involving the construction of new production complexes together with the refurbishment of existing facilities to be fully compliant with the latest environmental, reliability and safety requirements regulation.