OREANDA-NEWS. February 11, 2007. Minister of Economy of the Republic of Lithuania Vytas Navickas, the members of the Management Boards of PKN Orlen and AB Maziekiu Nafta have participated in the official ceremony of the completion of the Vacuum Tower Rebuild, reported the press-centre of Maziekiu Nafta.
 
The rebuild of the Vacuum Distillation Tower, which was damaged by the fire in October 2006, were completed at the end of 2007. The Company started up the unit immediately after completion of tying-in the rebuilt Vacuum Distillation Tower to the Refinery’s other process units. The Company has been rebuilding the tower since January 2007. At that time, the refinery re-commissioned the Vacuum Distillation Tower of the Bitumen Production Unit and this way retained the throughput capacities (7 million tons per year).

Having started the rebuilt Vacuum Distillation Tower up, the Refinery’s throughput capacities reached the level, which was before the October 2006 fire, i.e. more than 10 million tons.
Lithuanian, Polish and Italian engineering and construction companies performed most of the rebuilding work. The major components of the unit were produced also in Russia, Ukraine and the Czech Republic.

In autumn 2007, AB Mazeikiu Nafta completed the largest turnaround in its history and the modernization activities. The completed scope of work was three times bigger than the scope of the turnaround performed in 2003.

The turnaround was commenced in autumn 2007. As part of the turnaround activities more than 450 piping elements, 64 towers, 16 reactors, and approximately 1,600 valves were inspected and repaired. During the Refinery’s shutdown, a significant number of modernization projects were implemented: replacement of the heater at the Atmospheric Distillation Unit, revamp of the Atmospheric Distillation Tower and Fluid Catalytic Cracker.

The total amount of the maintenance and modernization costs is approximately USD 85 million.
Currently the Company is implementing the investment program. Its value is USD 1,6 billion.

The goal of the program is to achieve compliance of the products with the EU quality specifications and environmental requirements and to reduce significantly the energy consumption. The completion of the program is scheduled for 2012.

The program includes construction of the new units: hydrocracker, visbreaker, propylene splitter and flue gas treatment in the Power House.

 As part of the modernization activities, twelve major investment projects have already been implemented. The modernization activities are continued. Having completed them, the Refinery will be capable of processing 11 million tons of crude oil per year, and the crude oil conversion ratio will increase from 75 to 88 percent.

Having implemented the modernization program, AB Mazeikiu Nafta will become a strong part of ORLEN Group and a company capable of competing with the modern refineries of the region.