We expect the plants final start-up to be in 2017, Alexandr Trukhan, head of Gazpromneft-Lubricants, the Russian oil majors lube arm, told Lube Report on Monday. We hoped to make it happen earlier, but due to technical reconfiguration of the project – such as changes in the base oil viscosities – the start date was pushed back to 2017.

Trukhan said the changes were made because of impacts that the governments import substitution policy are having on Russias lubricant market.

During the last couple of years, when import substitution became a priority, we realized what viscosities could be marketable in the Russian lube market, he said, adding that in the process the joint venture partners learned whether the base stocks can be used to produce high-quality synthetic motor and industrial oils. The plant will produce 2 centiStoke, 4 cSt, 6 cSt and 8 cSt base oils.

The Group III base oil plant uses hydrocracked fuel residue as feedstock and employs hydrodewaxing and hydrofinishing processes, according to VNIPIneft, a Moscow-based research and design institute.

The construction is going on at the site at the moment, and the purchase of all the equipment is completed. The delay could be for technical reasons, and it is for a short period of time, from summer 2016 to the early 2017, Boris Sobolev, head of the Moscow-based InfoTek consultancys oil refining and petrochemicals research department, confirmed to Lube Report last week.