Kuibyshev Refinery Reduces Environmental Impact 2.5-Fold

The Kuibyshev refinery, an enterprise of Rosneft Oil Company refining complex, has attested the compliance of its Environmental Management System with the ISO 14001:2015 international standard. The enterprise has demonstrated a high level of environmental performance during the audit. The refinery runs major environmental projects that have helped it reduce its environmental impact 2.5-fold over the past five years.

Among the projects that have been carried out are the conversion of plant power from fuel oil to natural gas, the modernisation of the gas flare facility and the installation of pontoons on the feedstock and product depots, which have reduced oil product evaporation from the surface of the tanks to 99.5%. The BOV-2 recycled water supply unit commissioned has reduced the consumption of water from natural sources, the impact on the air and the consumption of electricity.

In addition, the refinery has stepped up its environmental monitoring. The enterprise commissioned a new mobile environmental air monitoring station. Three stationary environmental posts were added to the sanitary protection zone of the facility, as well as an automated monitoring system that measures weather parameters of the atmosphere and concentrations of substances in the air around the clock. The new equipment can perform about 10,000 atmospheric air analyses a month.

Implementation of a large-scale investment programme to modernise and upgrade the plant’s production facilities has made a major contribution to the task of reducing the Kuibyshev refinery’s environmental impact. For instance, three major industrial units were built and commissioned at the Kuibyshev refinery over the recent years: an isomerisation unit, a MTBE production unit and an FCC catalytic cracking complex that has replaced three previous-generation units at once. The new key facilities have been built to reflect the latest developments in industrial and environmental safety and have incorporated leading environmental technologies, which have significantly improved the environmental performance.