The brand recognised worldwide: Nizhnekamskneftekhim celebrating its birthday

Point of growth of Tatarstan's economy

Exactly 54 years ago, on 31 July, 1967, thousands of Nizhnekamsk residents gathered on Stroiteley Prospekt near the Voskhod cinema with jubilation, as if for a Victory holiday. The residents of the city came to celebrate the historic event — the first products of the chemical plant were received and shipped at the central gas fractionating plant: propane, butane, isobutane, pentane, isopentane, hexane. This day has forever gone down in history as the birthday of Nizhnekamskneftekhim.

That time, railway gantries were put into operation, from where commercial butane and hexane were soon sent by rail to the first consumers in Omsk and Bashkiria. The baton of builders was passed to operators: apparatchiks, locksmiths, machinists, laboratory technicians. By the act of the state commission on 31 July, 1967, the Central Gas Fractionating Unit complex with a capacity of 750,000 tonnes was put into operation.

Today, Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC, which is part of TAIF Group, is rightfully called the point of growth of the economy of Tatarstan. By processing straight-run gasoline, wide light hydrocarbon fraction, the company produces synthetic rubbers, plastics, monomers and other petrochemical products.

The enterprise occupies 22 square kilometres, where eight main production plants, numerous departments, services and centres are located. Almost 16,000 people work in the workshops and offices of this petrochemical city, and there are almost 5,000 more employees in the sixteen subsidiaries that are part of the company's structure.

A series of excursions and a bike ride

Festive events dedicated to the 54th anniversary of the production of the first products at Nizhnekamskneftekhim began the day earlier. For the first time, a night tour of the enterprise for young people has been held on the territory of the company. More than 30 young activists of the city came to admire the beauty of the numerous lighting lamps located on technological columns, industrial and administrative buildings of the enterprise, as well as to learn how the round-the-clock continuous workflow is organised in production.

No less interesting was the excursion for veterans of production, which took place on the birthday of Nizhnekamskneftekhim. First of all, the guests of honour visited the new production facility for the production of dissolved styrene-butadiene synthetic rubber (DSSK) with a capacity of 60,000 tonnes a year and styrene-butadiene-styrene thermoplastics (TEP).

“My whole life is connected with Nizhnekamskneftekhim. I worked here from 1973 to 2008. I worked as the head of the site, deputy chief engineer for labour protection, in the security service. I am very glad that I ave come to the enterprise today. It's nice to look at the new, modern production and meet with your colleagues," Gennady Vatskov shared his impressions.

The veterans were told that at the beginning of 2021 the first briquette of rubber of the fifth generation was produced at the new production of DSSK with a capacity of 60,000 tonnes a year to create environmentally friendly, “green” brands of car tyres. The grand opening took place on Tatarstan Chemist's Day, May 26.

From now on, Nizhnekamskneftekhim has become a manufacturer of the entire line of rubbers necessary for the tyre industry. DSSK provides better grip on wet roads and thus increases driving safety. These tyres have a low level of noise when driving and save fuel due to low rolling resistance.

Besides, in March 2021, the first batch of thermoelastoplast (TEP) was produced at the new production of DSSK. This is a new additive that is used in the manufacture of road surfaces and roofing materials to improve their quality and durability. When introducing TEP into the production of asphalt, the cost of its production increases by one percent, but at the same time, the road service life is doubled.

“Very interesting!” Valery Nalimov, who has worked at the enterprise for about 40 years, could not contain his emotions. “I also worked at imported production, at ethylene plant. New equipment has been installed there. I would love to work in such a production. It is always interesting to study modern equipment. Thank you very much to the organisers for the tour.

The veterans looked at the DSSK production line, walked through the unit, and looked into the operator room.

“There's a whole room here for the hooks that we used to tighten the handwheels! Now they live high, but at one time they forbade us to use hooks," the production veterans joked.

Second Nizhnekamskneftekhim

After that, the veterans went to the construction site of the new EP-600 plant. The complex will process almost 1,8 million tonnes of naphtha a year. It is planned to produce 600,000 tonnes of ethylene, 273,000 tonnes of propylene, 245,000 tonnes of benzene, 88,000 tonnes of butadiene from all these raw materials.

Located near the layout of the new plant, the director of the EP-600, Lenar Nagimullin, told the guests about the specifics of the project implementation.

“Construction works are on schedule. The equipment is delivered by all types of transport. The highest point of the complex will be a flare with a height of 150 metres. The key feature of the project is its own local treatment facilities, which will purify the process water and return it back to the process. Also, a smokeless combustion flare and an incinerator for burning heavy residues will be used as part of the production. Such an organisation of the technological process will bring significant economic benefits and minimise the harmful impact on the environmental situation," he noted.

The veterans listened attentively to the narrator, asked interesting questions. Then the guests went up to the observation deck, from where the entire scale of the construction was clearly visible. Among the tourists, there was the honored builder of the RSFSR, first builder of Nizhnekamsk, Rafael Glyants. He was once the right hand of the legendary head, first director of the chemical plant Nikolay Lemaev and remembers well how it all began.

“I looked at the production, and I want to say that everything is different now. There is a big difference, automation and computerisation are all around! I am proud to have worked at Nizhnekamskneftekhim. Our whole life has been spent here. Previously, there was a dense forest here, there was not a single clearing. We uprooted everything, cut it down. And now there is a grandiose machine here," said Rafael Glyants.

According to him, Nizhnekamskneftekhim has always been distinguished from other enterprises by constant desire for development.

“The company s constantly undergoes construction, equipment replacement, construction of new buildings, production of new products. This is life! I would like to wish the company further prosperity!” Rafael Glyants wished.

Irek Aglyamov, the first deputy director general and chief engineer of Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC, expressed his gratitude to the veterans.

“You left, but you handed over the banner of labour feats to reliable hands. Your students have become directors of factories, chief specialists of the company. We support this bar and strive for new heights. It was you who laid the strong foundation for today's achievements," he said solemnly.

Thanks to high production efficiency, vertical integration and customer focus, Nizhnekamskneftekhim continues its stable development. The main projects of the strategic development programme until 2025 are the construction of the new complex for the production of olefins and derivatives, the commissioning of the new power plant of the CCGT-TPP with a capacity of 495 MW.

The result of the strategic programme will be an increase in the annual production of ethylene to 1,2 million tonnes by 2025, synthetic rubbers — to 0,8 million tons, plastics — to 1,4 million tonnes. The complex will become a driver for the emergence and development of many production facilities for the production of final goods in Tatarstan and Russia as a whole, which will use polymer products produced at the new complex, which fully corresponds to the federal import substitution programme. By implementing the promising development programme, the company further strengthens its position as the flagship of the domestic petrochemical industry of the Republic of Tatarstan and Russia.

The events dedicated to the 54th anniversary of Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC did not end there. On the same day, the company was visited by children of petrochemists, and in the evening, a bike ride took place. On July 31, the company's divisions will take part in the sports and patriotic, intellectual and entertainment event “Patriots of Neftekhim”.

Sponsored material