Transneft reported that the project received approval at the SEZ Supervisory Board meeting on 18 August 2016. Construction will be underway in concert with Nika PetroTech (Russia).
The annual output is expected to be 3,000 tonnes, and the planned launch deadline is Q1 2018.
Planned investment into the project totals some RUB 1.7 bln, said Rasim Mingazetdinov, Head of the Strategic Development Directorate of Transneft.
At the moment, the Company purchases drag reducing additives, inter alia, from its project partner, but the current output is insufficient.
«The additive, on the one hand, helps boost the energy efficiency of oil and petroleum product pipelines and cut operating costs, and on the other, to curtail capital spending where the oil pipeline delivery capacity needs to be higher,» Rasim Mingazetdinov explained. He said 3,000 tonnes would suffice in the 1st phase to cover the Company’s needs as required to increase the capacity delivery of pipelines.
The project could be expanded afterwards with the goals of (among other things) improving energy efficiency and offering the new plant’s products to oil companies which use such additives in upstream pipelines.
