Gazprom Neft holds first ever industry conference on developing Russia’s refining-catalyst market

20 december 2017

The first ever conference highlighting the development of the domestic catalyst market — “Refining Catalysts in Russia: Forward to the Future” — has been held by Gazprom Neft in St Petersburg, attended by specialist experts from Gazprom Neft, representatives of scientific research institutes, Russian and international companies involved in developing high-technology solutions for the refining industry, and corporate users of catalyst products from Russia and the CIS.

Forum participants discussed the current status of the development and production of refining catalysts in Russia, as well as the outlook for establishing new production capacity and expanding catalyst product ranges, including through the introduction and implementation of innovative approaches. In addition to this, the conference also gave the specialist community an initial insight into a project for the construction of a new catalyst production facility in Omsk, as well as the road map for achieving this.

In a move expected to benefit all stakeholders in Russia’s refining industry, Gazprom Neft is currently implementing a project developing catalysts for secondary refining processes, endorsed by the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation, which has awarded it the status of a national project. Implementing this project will mean that Gazprom Neft will, by 2020, be able to meet all demand for secondary refining catalysts from Russia’s refineries. The project envisages the establishment of a modern high-tech production facility in Omsk, capable of producing 15,000 tonnes of cat-cracking catalysts per year, as well as 6,000 tonnes of hydrotreating catalysts. The company’s partners in implementing this national project include major scientific research centres specialising in cat-cracking processes — the Boreskov Institute of Catalysis (part of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk) and the Institute for Problems of Hydrocarbon Refining, Omsk (also a Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences), together with OAO VNIPINeft, Moscow, the developer behind the construction of the catalyst production plant. A subsidiary company has been incorporated to develop this new area for the company — Gazpromneft Catalytic Systems.

Petr Degtyarev, Director of Gazprom Neft’s Oil Refining Directorate, commented: “The issue of developing a domestic catalyst production business has, from the start, been discussed at the highest professional level — and across the widest possible audience. In leading the development of the market for secondary refining catalysts in Russia and the CIS, Gazprom Neft is bringing together all interested parties in addressing the current problems faced by the industry. I have every confidence that this specialist conference — which we plan to hold every year — will allow the best domestic developments in catalyst production technologies and related areas to be brought together, as well as improving Russian scientific and commercial expertise.”

Catalysts used in oil refining processes are nano-structured agents which, when introduced into immediate chemical interactions, speed up chemical reactions in oil refining.

Tags: innovation, refining, efficiency, technology