OREANDA-NEWS. November 6, 2012. Gazprom Neft’s Omsk Refinery has launched the diesel hydrotreater. The opening ceremony was attended by Gazprom’s Chairman of the Management Committee and Gazprom Neft’s BoD Chairman Alexey Miller.

The three-million-ton-per-year hydrotreater is designed to produce Grade 5 diesel fuel, which meets the Technical Regulation of the Russian Federation and the current Euro-5 standard of the EU. In particular, sulfur content in this diesel is 35 times lower than in Euro-3.

The new unit is part of the motor fuel hydroforming facility, whose first stage, gasoline cat cracked hydrotreater, was launched in May 2012. When the whole facility comes on-stream in 2013, the Omsk Refinery will be able to produce Grade 4 and 5 gasoline, and Grade 5 diesel. The total investment into these two units has amounted to 15.9 billion rubles.

The hydroforming facility at Omsk Refinery is the closing stage in the refinery’s product quality improvement program that falls under the 2020 Gazprom Neft Refining Development Strategy. The next stage of revamping will be improving the depth of refining.

“The Omsk Refinery has once again proved that it is remaining one of the best and most advanced refineries in the country. The new facility will help Gazprom Neft to meet its strategic goal of providing high quality fuel to consumers. Today, Gazprom Neft’s refineries are moving fast towards producing world class greener fuels with less environmental impact. The refinery’s units undergo full-scale revamping. After completing the first step, Gazprom Neft will focus on upgrading the depth of refining. This will result in further performance growth and strengthening our leadership positions in the industry,” said Aleksey Miller.