Rosneft designs synthetic crude oil unit

Moscow, October 22 - Neftegaz.RU. Scientists of the Rosneft United Research and Development Centre have developed a laboratory unit designed to convert methane to synthetic liquid hydrocarbons.

The unit has successfully completed a synthetic oil production run, and the company’s technology for obtaining synthetic oil from associated petroleum gas has undergone a series of expert reviews, including international ones, and has been assessed as a high-tech, state-of-the-art process solution.

The introduction of the best practices and new technologies is one of the key priorities of the Rosneft-2022 Strategy. The company pays special attention to innovative development, recognising technology leadership as a key competitive factor on the oil market.

Synthetic crude oil is more environmentally friendly than natural crude oil, and when blended with natural crude oil it improves its quality. The company’s specialists are currently preparing to create a pilot plant at the field to test it under real operating conditions.

The diesel produced on-site from synthetic crude oil will be much cheaper if such a facility is available at remote fields, where fuel and lubricants have to be delivered to diesel generator and vehicles via winter road or aeroplane.

Rosneft’s achievements in synthetic crude oil production are an important step towards increasing the efficiency of gas refining and meeting high environmental standards for oil production.

Due to the exhaustion of traditional reserves, new fields are being brought into development featuring heavier viscous oil, which is more difficult to transport and refine. Adding synthetic crude oil to this type of hydrocarbons can bring their quality closer to that of traditional grades up to Brent.