MOSCOW — Almost all vertically integrated oil companies in Russia have plans to upgrade their base oil plants, but Rosneft claims a leadership role by promising API Group II and III production next year.
The company has already streamed a few batches of Group II and Group III base oils, but continuous production will start by the end of 2013 and continue in 2014, said Alexey Tarasov, chief technologist at Rosnefts Novokuibyshevsk Oils and Additives Plant.
His comments were made at the 5th annual WRA conference of Base Oils and Lubricants in Russia and the CIS held in Moscow March 29. These products have evaporation losses of less than 15 percent, conforming with European Automobile Manufacturers Association standards,” he said.
Rosneft has three lubricant production sites in Angarsk, Novokuibyshevsk and Moscow. There are ongoing activities for the base oil production upgrade in Angarsk and Novokuibyshevsk refineries. After the work is done, both base oil plants together will produce 600,000 tons of Group I to III base oils per year, Tarasov said.
Novokuibyshevsks Group II and Group III upgrade consists of development of vacuum distillation, raffinate hydro-conversion and isomerization units. In the first phase, vacuum distillation and raffinnate hydro-conversion units are scheduled to be ready by November 2012, and by the second half of 2013, respectively. So, later this year we will be ready to stream Group II base oils, Tarasov stated.
In the second phase, Isodewaxing and hydrocracking units will be installed for production of Group III base oils. Novokuibyshevsk will use two technologies licensed by ExxonMobil, which employs solvent hydro-catalytic technology, and by Chevron Lummus Global, with its Isodewaxing and hydro-treatment technology, Tarasov said.
Angarsks Group III upgrade will employ ExxonMobil-licensed hydroisomerization and second stage hydro-treatment processes, which will be ready to stream by 2015, according to Vladimir Kapustin, general director of Moscow-based OAO VNIPIneft.
In Novokuibyshevsk, Rosneft operates a blending facility with a total capacity of 100,000 t/y. The plant was built in 2002, but in the last four years has undergone major modernization. The automated blending facility for production of Rosneft-branded finished products has two lines for filling of canisters and barrels. In 2011 the company started to develop a packaging unit and finished lubricants storage warehouse.
The blending plant produces different types of engine oils and industrial lubes and two types of additive packages, sulfonates and salicylates. The plant also produces antiwear additives for diesel fuels, Tarasov said, adding that the finished products and additives are tested in two different labs.
Rosneft has another plant located in Moscow: Its Nefteprodukt plant produces a wide range of lubricating, protective, and conservation materials used in aviation and space-rocket engineering, agricultural and armored vehicle building, instrument engineering, and in the power generation industry, according to the companys web site.
After Lukoil, Rosneft is the second largest lubricants marketer in the country. In 2011, it produced 468,000 tons of base oils and held a 20 percent share the Russian base oil market, according to the Moscow based InfoTek consultancy.