On Wednesday (9 September 2020) President Berdimuhamedov led the foundation laying ceremony of a power generation plant at the Turkmenbashi complex of refineries at the Caspian coast of Turkmenistan.
The project will be done by Çalik Energy, a wholly owned company of the Turkish Çalik Holding. There will be two gas turbines with capacity of 70 megawatt. Çalik Energy is committed to complete the project within 18 months.
The contract also includes the renovation of the existing power generation facilities at the refinery.
The new power generation units are meant to provide electricity to the under-construction units at the Turkmenbashy refinery including the delayed coking and tar deasphalting unit.
Ahmet Çalik, the head of Çalik Holding, and Vagit Alekperov, the head of the Russian company Lukoil also addressed the gathering.
After the ceremony the president had separate meetings with Ahmet Çalik and Vagit Alekperov.
Ahmet Çalik reported on the progress on projects being done by his group of companies in Turkmenistan.
Çalik Holding is also responsible for the TAP (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan power transmission network) in the territory of Afghanistan. The president asked Ahmet Çalik to ensure timely and quality completion of the project.
Vagit Alekperov told the president that Lukoil had accumulated vast experience in the development of the hydrocarbon deposits in the Caspian Sea and was ready to cooperate with Turkmenistan. He said that the favorable investment climate created in Turkmenistan and a reliable legal framework contribute to attracting foreign business investments in the development of oil and gas fields, construction of related infrastructure. /// nCa
About Turkmenbashy Complex of Refineries (TKNPZ)
After gaining independence, the oil and gas industry of Turkmenistan faced an important task – to meet the needs of the national economy in the main types of oil products, to arrange their export.
Taking these requirements into account, a program for the reconstruction and technical re-equipment of the Turkmenbashi refinery was developed, which made it possible to significantly increase production efficiency, create a flexible and reliable system for processing hydrocarbon raw materials, and produce products that are competitive on world markets.
As part of the implementation of this large-scale program, the TKNPZ built catalytic reforming units with continuous catalyst regeneration (CCR) and millisecond catalytic cracking (MSCC), and a lubricating oil plant (Lube Oil). As a result, Turkmenistan was the first among the CIS countries to completely stop the production of leaded gasoline, and significantly increased the production of high-octane brands of automobile fuel.
The first step in the development of the domestic petroleum and gas chemistry was the construction of a polypropylene complex (PPL) at the TKNPZ, the feedstock for which is liquefied gas coming from the millisecond catalytic cracking (MSCC) unit.
Today, granular propylene occupies one of the leading places in the list of products exported by the coastal facility. It is purchased by Russia, Japan, Turkey, Iran, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, etc.
A significant part of the export product is sent to consumers by sea transport. For these purposes, a specialized terminal for storage and shipment of polypropylene was built in the International Seaport of the city of Turkmenbashi.
In turn, the commissioning of a unit for the production of hydrotreated diesel fuel (DHT) with a minimum sulfur and nitrogen content at the country’s leading petrochemical enterprise made it possible to fully satisfy the demand for diesel fuel that meets international environmental requirements, domestic automobile and tractor equipment, river vessels, export opportunities of TKNPZ.
To participate in the above projects, their financing were attracted by the world’s leading developers of technologies that ensure the receipt of high-quality products, large companies and banks in Japan, Germany, France, the Republic of Korea, the USA, Turkey, Iran, Israel – “Chiyoda”, “Itochu”, ” Nissho Ivai, JGC, Technip, Hyundai Engineering, Edeliyanu, UOP, Basell, Merhav, Nichimen, Marubeni, Еximbank, JBIC, Deutsche Bank “and others.
A power plant with a capacity of 126.4 megawatts with three gas turbines from the world famous American company General Electric was built at the firstborn of the domestic petrochemical industry. Powerful transformers, power equipment were supplied from Germany, France, Italy and other countries of the world.
Along with this, the primary oil refining units (ELOU-AT) were modernized, internal and external engineering communications were updated, new tanks were built for storing raw materials and finished products, an aviation kerosene purification unit, an automobile and railway terminal for shipment of liquefied gas.
It should be noted that the new installations being built at the TKNPZ complement each other due to the widespread use of waste-free technologies in deep oil refining, the latest achievements in world practice. An example of this is a large investment project carried out by the consortium of companies “LG International Corp.” and Hyundai Engineering Co., Ltd (Republic of Korea).
Within its framework, plants were built for the production of high-octane brands of motor gasoline that meets international quality standards. The components required for this are recovered during the vacuum distillation of fuel oil and the processing of liquefied gas.
Two years ago, a technological line for the production of biaxially oriented polypropylene film (BOPP) was installed at TKNPZ. Among the many synthetic and natural packaging materials, BOPP films are today taking the leading positions, pushing aside such competitors as cellophane, foil, polyamide or polyethylene fluoride.
Today the commercial products of TKNPZ are represented by numerous types and brands of refined products. Among them are high-octane motor gasolines of grades A-80, A-92, A-95, aviation, technical and lighting kerosene, diesel fuels, a wide range of technical lubricating oils, liquefied petroleum coke gas, road and construction bitumen, granular polypropylene and others. goods sold through the State Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange of Turkmenistan.
At present, work is underway to build a new unit for delayed coking and tar deasphalting. The main objective of the project, implemented by the consortium of companies WTL FZE (OAE) and Westport Trading Europe Limited (USA), is the processing of heavy residues of tar and fuel oil based on the technology of Foster Wheeler. The capacity of the complex is 900 thousand tons of products per year.
In addition to the total petroleum coke, the unit will produce liquefied gas and components for the production of gasoline. Light coke oven gas oil is also a feedstock for a diesel hydrotreater, which will produce Euro-5 motor fuel. And heavy coke oven gas oil will become a feedstock for the catalytic cracking unit operating at the plant.
Located near the city of Turkmenbashi, the Kenar Oil Products Storage and Shipment Facility is linked to the Turkmenbashi Complex of Oil Refineries by a network of pipelines that carry oil products to the offshore oil terminal.
From here, ships of the national navy and other states export them for export. An automated railway overpass was built here, which makes it possible to load into tanks and send by rail 3 million 850 thousand tons of oil products per year, including 1 million 800 thousand tons of motor gasoline.
The most important aspect of the technical re-equipment of the firstborn of the domestic oil refining industry is the preservation of ecological well-being in the coastal zone of the Caspian, taking into account the National Tourist Zone “Avaza” and the Khazar State Reserve located here.
An extensive program of environmental protection measures includes research and development to assess the condition and develop measures to cleanse sea bays, restore their natural and biological resources, and utilize oil slags and oily soils. The TKNPZ has built modern treatment facilities, established regular monitoring of the purity of air, water and soil.
On behalf of the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, a tender is being held to develop a feasibility study for the “Conceptual strategy for the development of the Turkmenbashi complex of oil refineries and the Seydi oil refinery.”
The possibilities of the TKNPZ and SNPZ will be analyzed in detail, promising directions for their further development, as well as the optimal range of petroleum products, taking into account modern requirements and demand in world markets, will be determined.
In particular, it is planned to build new technological facilities at the Turkmenbashi oil refinery, which will bring the depth of oil refining to more than 90 percent. Among them – a complex of units for hydrotreating diesel fractions and gasoline, catalytic cracking and coking with a hydrogen production unit; a catalytic cracking unit for heavy residues of oil refining products, as well as a unit for the production of high-quality base technical oils. [passage about Turkmenbashi refinery from TDH] /// nCa, 10 September 2020