MOSCOW (MRC) -- Gazpromneft Bitumen Materials, operator of the Gazprom Neft bitumens business, has signed a Cooperation Agreement with the Transport and Construction Complex Research Institute on developing effective formulations for high-tech bitumen binders, and using these in roadbuilding, under an agreement signed by Dmitry Orlov, General Director, Gazpromneft Bitumen Materials, and Evgeny Simchuk, General Director of the Transport and Construction Complex Research Institute, said the company.
The parties have agreed to develop a roadmap directed at improving efficiency in using bitumen materials in building and operating transport infrastructure facilities. This partnership is expected to involve a series of R&D and pilot operations at the Gazprom Neft Science and Technology Centre in Ryazan, as well as at the Institute’s own research centre. Based on this work, current technical standards and methodologies for testing bitumen materials will be updated, in line with the needs of Russia’s roadbuilding industry.
The agreement also envisages the parties collaborating in developing new innovative formulations for bitumens and asphalt mixes, using cutting-edge technological solutions in line with current regulatory, environmental and safety standards. In order to monitor effectiveness in using bitumen materials a progressive oversight system will be put forward for monitoring the operating conditions and status of highways and motorway test-sections.
As MRC informed earlier, Gazprom Neft and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) have entered into a Framework Agreement on Strategic Cooperation. The companies will explore opportunities for implementing joint projects in the upstream and downstream sectors, as well as in information technologies, artificial intelligence, and other areas.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,589,580 tonnes in the first nine months of 2019, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 976,790 tonnes in January-September 2019, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.
Gazpromneft Bitumen Materials is a subsidiary of Gazprom Neft, specialising in the production and sale of bitumen products. The company currently holds a leading position on the Russian bitumens market.
The company’s key production facilities are based in the Moscow, Omsk, Yaroslavl, Smolensk, Rostov and Ryazan Oblasts, as well as in Serbia and Kazakhstan. The company produces road, construction and roofing bitumens, as well as polymer-modified bitumens (PMBs) and binders (specifically G-Way Styrelf), and a range of bitumen derivatives (mastic compounds, sealants, bridging tapes and more). The company established a dedicated bitumens Science and Technology Centre in 2016, which has since become the first such organisation among Russia’s vertically integrated oil companies offering technological support to the bitumens business. The company is constantly developing new formulations, and further improving technology in the production of innovative binders.
MRC