MOSCOW (MRC) - Lukoil, the second largest oil company in Russia, began construction of the second stage of a gas processing unit (GPU-2) on Stavrolen in Budennovsk in the Stavropol Territory on 7 October, the company said.
The construction of the GPU-2 will increase the intake of associated petroleum gas from the fields of the North Caspian to 5 billion cubic meters. m per year, which will increase the volume of valuable raw materials for pyrolysis (ethane and NGL), which Stavrolen uses to produce marketable products.
GPU-2 is the first facility to be built as part of a comprehensive enterprise development program. The company plans to increase the productivity of pyrolysis technological units, as well as the volume and range of produced polyethylene and polypropylene.
It is expected that following the implementation of the comprehensive development program for Stavrolen, the capacity for ethylene production will grow from 350 to 420 thousand tons per year, polyethylene - from 300 to 405 thousand tons, copolymer grades of polypropylene - from 80,000 to 120,000 tonnes.
Lukoil plans to invest 300 billion rubles in the development of the Stavrolen petrochemical enterprise.
Earlier it was reported that in July of this year, Lukoil began construction of a polypropylene (PP) production complex on the territory of the Nizhny Novgorod refinery in the city of Kstovo. The complex will become the largest polypropylene production facility in Russia integrated into an oil refinery. The raw material for polypropylene production at Lukoil's Nizhny Novgorod site will be propylene from two modernized catalytic cracking units with a capacity of 4 million tonnes per year. After putting the complex into operation, the enterprise will be able to produce about 500,000 tonnes of polypropylene grades.
In addition, Lukoil is preparing a feasibility study for an investment project to monetize its own raw materials into ethylene oxide, mono-, di- and triethylene glycols at one of the production sites in the Volga Federal District.
According to MRC's DataScope, PP imports to Russia grew by 16% in the first eight months of this year compared to the previous year and amounted to 165,800 tonnes. The main increase in external supplies fell on propylene copolymers.
Lukoil is one of the leading vertically integrated oil companies in Russia. The main activities of the company include operations for the exploration and production of oil and gas, production and sale of petroleum products. Lukoil is the second largest privately-owned oil company in the world in terms of proven hydrocarbon reserves. The structure of Lukoil includes one of the largest petrochemical enterprises in Russia - Stavrolen. Previously, the company also included Karpatneftekhim, the largest polymer producer in Ukraine, but in February 2017 Lukoil completed a deal to sell this asset.
MRC