The investment committee of Sibur (Moscow; www.sibur.com) has approved the expansion of a facility that processes raw natural-gas liquids (raw NGL) at the Tobolsk production site. This expansion project is expected to increase the site’s capacity from 6.6 million metric tons per year (m.t./yr) to 8 million m.t./yr.
Over the last several years, Sibur has been consistently enhancing the gas-fractionation capacity at the Tobolsk site. Launched in 1984, the Tobolsk-Neftekhim gas fractionation facility processed around 2 million m.t./yr of raw NGL. With the ongoing progress from 2005, its capacity reached 3, 3.5 and 3.8 million m.t./yr in 2009, 2010 and 2011 respectively. The second gas fractionation unit, commissioned in 2014, made the overall capacity of the Tobolsk site hit 6.6 million m.t./yr.
The project is meant to boost the second gas-fractionation unit capacity from 2.8 to 4.2 million m.t./yr by means of additional equipment for internals, heat-exchange and pump equipment, construction of a cooling tower and expanded feedstock range.
Nipigas, a design and engineering center, has been selected as a general designer. Currently, all the design documents have been completed and approved by Glavgosexpertiza, with the relevant construction permit issued. All major production equipment has been contracted and its delivery is underway.
According to preliminary estimates, the project investment totals 5.5 billion RUB (around $97 million). The project is scheduled for completion by 2017.