19th in succession: Oksky-56 finishes equipment delivery for Nizhnekamskneftekhim’s ethylene facility
217 pieces of equipment by water
A ship with large equipment for Nizhnekamskneftekhim’s EP-600 plant moored to the Nizhnekamsk River Port. So Oksky-56 ship finished the delivery of two compressors by river.
“The compressor RA140-02 is designed to supply utility air and instrument air to the tank system for consumers. The second unit — RА142-01 — is necessary to supply compressed air to coils of pyrolysis furnaces for decocking,” noted Ilnur Gamirov, a mechanic in the water treatment shop of Nizhnekamskneftekhim’s EP-600 ethylene facility.
Both compressors were manufactured in South Korea, they were shipped to Europe on a Pacific liner on 14 March. It took nearly 2,5 months to deliver the equipment to the seaport of Saint Petersburg. Here the equipment was reloaded into Oksky-56 ship.
“The maximum length of our ship is 94 metres, the width is 12 metres, weight capacity is 1,900 tonnes. 132,599 tonnes of freight arrived in Nizhnekamsk. We had covered more than 2,200 kilometres by water. In Saint Petersburg, we coincided with Crimson Sails graduation ball. We had to wait for a day for the canal to open,” the ship’s alternate captain Andrey Davydov told Realnoe Vremya’s correspondent.
Oksky-56 became the 19th and the last ship to deliver equipment for the new olefin complex EP-600 at Nizhnekamskneftekhim by water. 217 pieces of heavy and large equipment were transported since 2020.
Further transportation according to the project will be carried out by land transport.
“Delivery allowing timely providing the contractor general with all the commodities and materials for the construction of the plant is made thanks to the efforts of Nizhnekamskneftekhim and Linde,” says Anton Yaryoma, head of the Procurement and Equipment Service of the Ethylene-600 plant.
Construction of ambitious project at its height
We should remind you that Nizhnekamskneftekhim is dealing with the EP-600 project together with the German concern Linde, a basic agreement with which was signed in Saint Petersburg in June 2017. Gemont from Turkey became the contractor general of construction and assembly works.
The assembly of large equipment in the Ethylene-600 olefin complex, which is under construction, started on 22 June 2020. The first and biggest primary fractionating column 640 tonnes in weight, 8 metres in diameter, 78 metres in height was erected on this day on the site.
Now the construction of the ethylene plant is at its height — underground networks are assembled, concrete works go on, metal structures, equipment, pipelines are assembled. Pipe spools are manufactured, painted at Gemont’s bases, the spools will consequently be assembled into pipelines. The construction of main buildings continues — it is control rooms, electric substations and the operator’s room. The flare, cooling towers are erected.
More than a third of the scheduled works are completed in pyrolysis furnaces: not only metal constructions but also the inner lining are assembled. Preparations to place steam drums in the permanent position began, after that, pipelines are connected. A third of the works on underground pipeline laying is already over on the site of the complex. The contractor’s staff is installing equipment for the future Ethylene-600 plant.
Driver for Tatarstan economy’s development
The new ethylene complex of Nizhnekamskneftekhim is built with the latest technologies. Its own local treatment facilities will allow reducing the consumption of the Kama River’s resources: process water will be treated and reused in the plant. The flare will operate without smoke: hydrocarbons will be burnt, and only carbon dioxide will go into the atmosphere.
More than 600 jobs will be created in the new complex. Engineers and technicians have already been hired. Plant staff will be recruited late this year — operators, machinists, metalworkers. The focus will be on those specialists who already work at Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC.
The doors are open to graduates of Nizhnekamsk educational establishments too — they can get a job at the EP-600 after practice in the operating ethylene plant and learning the basic skills.
The olefin complex will become a driver to create and develop a lot of plants manufacturing end products in Tatarstan and Russia that will use polymers produced in the complex’s plants. This completely complies with an import substitution programme implemented at federal level.
Nearly 1,8 million tonnes of straight-run petrol a year will be processed here. Besides 600,000 tonnes of ethylene, it is planned to make 273,000 tonnes of propylene, 250,000 tonnes of benzene, 88,000 tonnes of butadiene.
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