OREANDA-NEWS. Four pieces of major heavy engineering equipment for construction of the new Euro+ combined oil refining unit (CORU) at the Gazprom Neft Moscow Refinery have arrived in Moscow. Two hydro-treatment reactors, a dewaxing unit, and a hot-separator of the Euro+ diesel hydro-treatment unit were produced at the Izhorskiye Zavody plant, St Petersburg, leaving the premises on 12 June.

Designed for the removal of sulphur and nitrogen from crude oil to meet Euro?5 environmental standards, as well as the de-waxing of crude for enhanced winter-grade diesel fuels, the most significant piece of equipment delivered stands at a height of 30.7 metres, with a total weight of about 700 tonnes.

Transportation of the equipment via the Volga—Baltic transport system took 21 days, over a route running to 1,367 kilometres, before being transferred at the landing pier at the Besedy settlement in the Moscow Oblast. Delivery of each unit to the Moscow Refinery shop floor will involve freight trucks and special Goldhofer-THP heavy-duty trailers, made up of 20 modules and axle lines. An additional land-access road is to be built near the Moscow Refinery, running to a length of 22 metres.

Construction of the Euro+ CORU represents a key project in the second phase of Gazprom Neft’s full modernisation of the Moscow Refinery. Commissioning of the Euro+ facility is expected to increase refining capacity at the Moscow Refinery, improve refining depth, increase production of light petroleum products, facilitate the move towards a four-year running time between repairs, improve performance in energy efficiency, and further reduce environmental impacts.

More than RUB75 billion has already been invested in the Moscow Oil Refinery modernisation programme, being implemented by Gazprom Neft since 2011. The plant is systematically getting rid of obsolete facilities and actively introducing modern production complexes. Gazprom Neft has set itself the task of turning the Moscow Refinery into the best oil refining business in Europe in terms of product quality, energy efficiency, and environmental performance. The plant’s environmental impacts have been cut by 50 percent over the past five years.

Commissioning of the new Euro+ combined refining unit is planned for the second half of 2018. Following its launch, refining volumes at the Moscow Refinery are expected to increase to 12 million tonnes per year. The Euro+ facility itself will be able to process about six million tonnes of oil per year.