Gazprom Neft commissioned the second stage of its lubricant blending production in Omsk, Western Siberia, and confirmed it will soon start construction of an API Group II base oil plant in Serbia.
The Omsk upgrade adds 40,000 t/y to the existing 70,000 t/y finished lubes production capacity. Our new lubricants production there is the largest in Russia in terms of both blending and filling capacity, Gazprom Neft said in its Apr. 14 news release. After the upgrade, the facility is now able to produce 110,000 t/y of finished lubricants, while the filling line has capacity of 180,000 t/y.
The blending plant has five mixing units, pipeline and a dosage system that provides efficient and precise automatic production of a wide range of motor oils, including Gazproms flagship brand G-Energy, according to the company.
In addition to the blending and filling line, the complex includes a facility for lubes packaging production, feedstock and finished products storage, as well as a modern tank storage facility. The system has the potential to automatically fill more than 350 different types of products, and the finished products warehouse has 10,000 tons of storage capacity, the company said.
The development of Gazprom Nefts $94 million finished lubricant production complex in Omsk took place in two stages. In May 2012 the company unveiled a 70,000 t/y blending facility, new packaging production and filling line, its new feedstock and finished products storage as well as a tank park. In the second stage, a fully automated 40,000 t/y blending facility was finished.
The complex is ready to stream high quality products comparable to those imported [in Russia]. In Omsk we simply borrowed the know-how of our foreign [lubricant production] assets. The next large project here is development of high quality base oil production, which is expected to be ready by 2018, said Anatoly Cherner, Gazprom Nefts deputy general director for logistics, production and sale.
Moscow-based Gazprom Neft reconfirmed its readiness to start construction very soon on a 90,000 t/y Group II/II+ base oil plant in Serbia. We are confident we can develop a base oil plant at the NIS Novi Sad refinery, Alexandr Trukhan, Gazprom Neft Lubricants general director told Lube Report on Tuesday. The company is Gazprom Nefts lubricants arm.
Gazprom holds a 51 percent stake in Naftna Industrija Serbije, Serbias national oil company.
At the moment our lubricant production feedstock availability is zero. Thats why construction of a base oil plant in Novi Sad is in the cards, and the feedstock availability might prompt development of a new blending plant too, Trukhan said.
According to Gazprom Neft, it held a 14 percent share of the Russian lubricants market in 2013 and produced 492,000 tons of base oils and lubricants. The companys Omsk complex also includes a 240,000 t/y Group I base oil plant and is Gazproms main lubricant production hub. It also operates a 250,000 Group I base oil plant in Yaroslavl under the Slavneft joint venture with Russian oil giant Rosneft.
The company operates four additional lubricant blending plants in Moscow, Yaroslavl, Novi Sad (Serbia) and Bari (Italy). It sells finished lubricants in 42 countries, with distribution channels in some European Union markets, as well as in Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Last year it started sales in Hungary, Lebanon, Nigeria, Afghanistan and the Dominican Republic.