21-05-2015

LUKOIL opens heavy residue processing complex in Bulgaria

The President of ОАО LUKOIL Vagit Alekperov and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria Boyko Borisov took part in the official opening ceremony of the Heavy Residue Processing Complex, built on the territory of the refinery of LUKOIL Neftohim Burgas AD. It consists of a main unit for hydrocracking of vacuum residue with capacity of 2.5 mln tons per year and a number of auxiliary units.

The implementation of this project will allow increasing the efficiency of oil refining through increasing the production of light fuels of high added value. The conversion rate will rise up to 90%.

Energy efficiency will also be improved, and due to reduction of greenhouse gasses emissions, a significant positive effect will be achieved in the area of environmental protection.

The complex will produce high-quality oil products (fuel gas, gasoline, diesel fuel and vacuum gasoil), meeting the most severe requirements of the European Union.

The official ceremony was attended by Anzhelina Toteva, head of Prime Minister’s cabinet, Marco Conticelli, Ambassador of the Republic of Italy, Vladimir Kazanchev, senior counsellor (on economic issues) of the Embassy of the Russian Federation, Valcho Cholakov, Governor of Burgas region, Dimitar Nikolov, Mayor of Burgas, Stefan Bonev, Mayor of Kameno, Vladimir Nekrasov, First Vice-President of ОАО LUKOIL, Thomas Mueller, Vice-President of Oil Refining, Petrochemistry and Gas Processing at ОАО LUKOIL, Gleb Ovsiannikov, Head of the Public Relations Department of ОАО LUKOIL, Olesya Domnina, Head of Business Optimisation dpt. at ОАО LUKOIL, Aleksei Lambin, representative of the President of LUKOIL Oil Company for Europe, Sergey Andronov, Chairman of the Management Board of LUKOIL Neftohim Burgas AD, Valentin Zlatev, member of the Supervisory board of LUKOIL Neftohim Burgas AD and General Director of LUKOIL Bulgaria EOOD, Dmitry Florinskiy, Director of Retail Sales at LUKOIL Bulgaria EOOD, Nello Uccelletti – President Onshore/Offshore at Technip, municipal counsellors, managers and employees of LUKOIL Neftohim Burgas AD and the main contractors of the project – Technip and Siches.

In his complimentary speech the President of LUKOIL Oil Company Vagit Alekperov expressed his confidence that the new complex will help Bulgaria increase its production potential and extended his gratitude to the government and the local authorities for their cooperation and support for the implementation of this international project.

The Prime Minister Boyko Borisov confirmed that this project is one of the largest investments in Bulgaria and noted that this is 100 % environmentally-friendly production which is of particular importance for Burgas region – a place where the country’s tourism is concentrated.

Complimentary addresses were presented also by his Excellency Marco Conticelli, Vladimir Kazanchev on behalf of the Ambassador of the Russian Federation in Bulgaria, and Mr Nello Uccelletti.

The chairman of the Management Board of LUKOIL Neftohim Burgas AD Sergey Andronov presented to the Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and the President of ОАО LUKOIL Vagit Alekperov original commemorative tokens symbolizing the event, with an inscription “For the future of Bulgarian oil refining”.