Lukoil Volgograd Coker

November 17, 2011 Lukoil has finished constructing a delayed coking unit with a 1-million tonne capacity at the Volgograd refinery, the company said in a press release.

The unit’s activation will facilitate an increase in petroleum coke production by 100,000 tonnes per year and allow the decommissioning of two technologically outdated delayed coking units. In 2010, petroleum coke production totaled about 180,000 tonnes.

The unit’s launch will also make possible the production of 150,000 tonnes of motor fuel components per year, which will improve the depth and efficiency of oil refining at the Volgograd refinery, the press release said.

“The completion of building the delayed coking unit is an important stage in the refinery’s large-scale modernization aimed at creating non-residual production,” Lukoil President Vagit Alekperov is quoting as saying in the press release. “A diesel fuel hydro-fining unit will be set into operation here already next year. And by 2017 the Volgograd refinery will become the most modern oil refinery in the south of Russia,” he said.

Investments in the project have exceeded 8 billion rubles, the press release said. Commissioning work will begin in December.

Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov, who took part in the ceremony marking the construction’s completion, said that the refinery’s activities aim to ensure that manufactured products conform to world standards. “Today, refining depth here is 85%, and in the next few years the refinery will reach world standards – 95%,” he said.

Alekperov said that “the refining depth that the enterprise will reach will make it possible to say that the Volgograd refinery has become the best refinery not only in Russia, but also in Europe.”

All of Lukoil’s projects in the Volgograd region are important, Alekperov said. “We continue to conduct geological exploration work here, and I am sure that we will find new fields that will allow us not only to maintain, but also increase oil output,” he said.