MOSCOW (MRC) - Lukoil, the second largest oil company in the Russian Federation, has begun construction of a polymer-bitumen binders production facility at the Nizhny Novgorod refinery on the territory of the Nizhny Novgorod refinery in the city of Kstovo, the company said.
The plant's capacity exceeds 150 thousand tons during the production season. "The launch of the block will be another contribution of Lukoil to improving the quality of roads in Russia and the implementation of federal targeted programs for the development of the road construction industry," the press service of the company said.
Lukoil notes that the launch of a bitumen production unit at the Nizhny Novgorod refinery will expand the company's range of bitumen materials through modified products and produce innovative polymer-bitumen binders. The use of these products contributes to the durability of the road surface.
The launch of production makes the enterprise the largest bitumen producer in the company structure. The project will help meet the needs of the central region of Russia during the peak seasons of road construction.
Earlier it was reported that Lukoil began construction of a complex for the production of polypropylene (PP) on the territory of the Nizhny Novgorod refinery in the city of Kstovo. The raw material for polypropylene production at Lukoil's Nizhny Novgorod site will be propylene from two modernized catalytic cracking units with a capacity of 4 million tons per year. After putting the complex into operation, the enterprise will be able to produce about 500 thousand tons of polypropylene grades.
According to MRC's ScanPlast, PP supplies to the Russian market in January - May this year amounted to 607.89 thousand tons, which is 33% more than the same indicator a year earlier. The supply of propylene homopolymer (PP-homo) and propylene block copolymer (PP-block) also increased. The supply of stat-copolymer propylene (PP-random) has declined.
Lukoil is one of the leading vertically integrated oil companies in Russia. The main activities of the company include operations for the exploration and production of oil and gas, production and sale of petroleum products. Lukoil is the second largest privately-owned oil company in the world in terms of proven hydrocarbon reserves. The structure of Lukoil includes one of the largest petrochemical enterprises in Russia - Stavrolen.
MRC