Heavy investment in upgrading Belarusian oil refineries

About $2 billion will be allocated for modernizing OAO Naftan and Mozyr Oil Refinery. The information was released by Vitaly Pavlov, Deputy Chairman of the Belarusian petrochemical concern Belneftekhim, during the press conference held on 2 September to mark Oil Industry Worker’s Day, BelTA has learned.

According to the executive, there are plans to spend $600 million in 2015 on upgrading the two oil refineries.

Mozyr Oil Refinery continues implementing four main investment projects to build a facility for hydrocracking heavy oil residue, a combined plant for manufacturing high-octane gasoline components, a plant for the adsorption refining of butane fraction, and a sulfur manufacturing plant.

Meanwhile, Naftan is busy building a delayed coking facility that will comprise five plants and rebuilding the crude oil distillation plants AT-8 and AVT-2.

The accomplishment of the projects will allow the oil refineries to raise the oil conversion ratio up to about 90% in addition to processing more oil, noted Vitaly Pavlov.

BelTA reported earlier that Naftan is expected to finish the modernization campaign by late 2016 while Mozyr Oil Refinery will do the same by the end of 2017.