OREANDA-NEWS. PJSOC Bashneft has signed a contract with KMT International for the design and supply of equipment for an oil sludge processing unit. The Company plans to put the unit into operation in 2017 at the site of the Bashneft-Ufaneftekhim Branch. The total cost of the project is about 3 billion roubles.

'When upgrading our refining complex, we attach special importance to reducing the negative environmental impact; to do so, we use the safest state-of-the-art technologies,' emphasized Denis Stankevich, Bashneft's First Vice President for Refining and Commerce. 'Construction of the oil sludge processing unit is an important environmental project that will enable us to eliminate sludge pits in the northern industrial area of Ufa, where oil-containing waste has been accumulated for decades.'

Following a study of Russian and international experience, the Company has selected the thermal desorption technology developed by KMT International, which involves high-temperature cracking of heavy hydrocarbons and their subsequent use, which helps to minimize harmful atmospheric emissions.

The unit with a rated capacity of 75 thousand tonnes per year will make it possible to process all newly produced oil sludge and eventually to eliminate all accumulated oil-containing waste, whose volume totals about 220 thousand tonnes, and to vacate part of the occupied land after land restoration is completed.

KMT International (US) was established in 1999 and specializes in oil sludge processing. Numerous projects have been implemented worldwide using the technology developed by КМТ, including in partnership with BP, Chevron, Saudi Aramco, NNPC, Orpic, S-Oil and a number of Russian companies.