Business news

23 Feb 2021

Mozyr Oil Refinery getting ready to commission heavy oil hydrocracking complex

An archive photo

GOMEL, 23 February (BelTA) – Mozyr Oil Refinery is working to commission the heavy oil hydrocracking complex (H-Oil), BelTA has learned.

Despite frosty weather the specialists have managed to keep working fast in the course of completing construction and installation work and preparing the complex for commissioning. Provided additional measures are implemented, the installation of pipelines and their preparation for trials can continue in this weather, Mozyr Oil Refinery representatives told BelTA. Pipelines are being installed as part of the package piping of the ebullating pumps at the reactor unit in section 200 of the integrated hydrocracking unit. The same kind of work proceeds in section 300. The installation of a lift that will deliver personnel to the top service pad of the reactor unit has begun in section 200. The lift will allow personnel to easily rise 50 meters above the ground.

Frosty weather has put considerable restrictions on pipeline testing. Hydraulic trials proceed using deicing chemicals depending on weather conditions. Pneumatic trials of the installed pipelines are arranged as well.

Close attention is paid to training the personnel that will operate the heavy oil hydrocracking complex. A computer simulator is one of the tools at their disposal.

For the last two weeks representatives of the French company that had licensed the technology to Mozyr Oil Refinery have been inspecting the equipment and verifying the installation of the pipelines for compliance with the basic design. The technology relies heavily on the equipment it uses.

The construction of the heavy oil hydrocracking complex is Mozyr Oil Refinery’s largest investment project on record. Its cost is estimated to exceed $1.4 billion. In essence building the complex is like building another enterprise. The heavy oil hydrocracking complex comprises an integrated hydrocracking unit, a hydrogen plant, a sulfur plant, and 21 off-plant facilities. The project’s implementation will allow increasing the crude oil upgrading index up to 90%.

Mozyr Oil Refinery was commissioned in 1975. It was converted into a public joint-stock company (OAO) in 1994. The company specializes in refining oil and making and selling oil products. The products are exported to over 20 countries.