OREANDA-NEWS. Two assembly lines to package paving bitumen in big-bags were commissioned at the LUKOIL-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez Refinery, with a total capacity of 480 tons per day. The lines were constructed within eight months, an unprecedentedly short period of time.

One big-bag package is capable of holding up to one ton of liquid bitumen. As soon as the bitumen hardens, it can be transported by various means of transport across any distances (without losing its performance characteristics) to be used for road paving. It will enable LUKOIL to diversify bitumen supplies to end users, including remote regions, and to penetrate new export markets.

The big-bag packaging also makes it possible for LUKOIL not to cut bitumen production volumes in the periods characterized by declined demand (winter) and to accumulate enough in stock to satisfy the market demand in peak seasons (especially summer).

Big-bags represent a modern, eco-friendly, easy-to-transport type of packaging, which guarantees long-term storage of solid bitumen without losing its quality, including storage outside of covered storehouses.

The LUKOIL-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez Refinery is Russia's only enterprise which manufactures various types of paving bitumen with improved properties compliant with the state standard STO AVTODOR 2.1 2011. The capacity of the bitumen production unit totals 1.2 million tons per year.