Gazprom Group’s processing segment is made up of gas and gas condensate processing plants (GPP), the enterprises of Sibur Holding, and th oil-refining capacities of Gazprom Oil (Sibneft).
Gazprom operates six GPPs with a total annual capacity of 52,5 billion m3 of natural gas and 28,6 million t of unstable gas condensate and oil. The main processing procedures are the removal of impurities from natural gas and gas condensate, thorough dehydration of gas and its preparation for transportation, as well as stabilization and refinement of gas condensate and oil, and production of a wide variety of gas and oil products. The plants are directly associated with the corresponding gas-condensate fields and are unified technologically interconnected complexes.
Amounts of hydrocarbon processing at Gazprom’s GPPs
(excluding customer-furnished raw materials and the figures for Sibur Holding and Sibneft)
|
2004 |
2005 |
2005/2004(%) |
|
|
Raw materials |
|||
|
Natural gas, billion m3 |
32,4 |
33,9 |
104,6 |
|
Unstable gas condensate and oil, thousand tons |
11297,1 |
12025,6 |
106,4 |
|
Stable gas condensate and oil (primary processing), thousand tons |
6017,3 |
5989,3 |
99,5 |
|
Production of the processing |
|||
|
Gasoline is automobile, thousand tons |
2005,1 |
2242,7 |
111,8 |
|
Diesel by fuel-, thousand tons |
1732,1 |
1640,8 |
94,7 |
|
Petroleum residue is furnace, thousand tons |
392,8 |
380,8 |
96,9 |
|
fuel of TC1 grade, thousand tons |
15,0 |
50,9 |
339,3 |
|
Liquified hydrocarbon gases, thousand tons |
1854,0 |
1881,9 |
101,5 |
|
Sulfur, thousand tons |
5184,0 |
5361,8 |
103,4 |
|
bulk stable condensate and oil, thousand tons |
8254,1 |
8851,2 |
107,2 |
|
Stripped gas, billion m3 |
25,0 |
26,5 |
106,0 |
Sibur Holding makes up the core of Gazprom Group’s gas and oil processing.
Sibur Holding accounts for 18% of ethylene, 22% of propylene, and13% of benzene produced in Russia; it is Russia’s largest producer of synthetic rubbers.
With the acquisition of Sibneft, Gazprom gained control of the most modern, one of Russia’s largest, and technologically advanced Omsk oil refinery.
Its installed processing capacity is 19.5 million t. The raw materials are supplied directly from the fields of Gazprom Oil (Sibneft) through the Transneft pipelines, without being mixed with the heavier oil from other Russian refineries. This refining process is much more thorough than at other Russian refineries and is further improved to increase the proportion of products with a higher added value, including products that meet the requirements for export into the EC countries.
To raise the efficiency of hydrocarbon processing, Gazprom Group is examining scenarios for integrating the production flows of the condensate (oil) processing enterprises of Gazprom and Sibneft (sulfurous residual fuel oil of the Astrakhan GPP, and gas distillate of the Surgut condensate-stabilizing plant).
The primary reason for production of liquefied and compressed gas is to diversify Gazprom’s business and extend the range of its products.
One of the new, promising lines of business for Gazprom is production of liquefied and compressed gas, which can be delivered to consumers by alternative modes of transport such as ship, rather than the conventional pipe. Russia, one of the world’s main gas producers, has next to no capacity to produce liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Russia with its scale of production is able to provide export by avoiding third parties, and to explore new markets, the US, for instance. This would bolster Russia’s competitive performance as a gas exporter, and help diversify its exports.
Conversion of natural gas to liquid hydrocarbons using the Gas-to-Liquids (GTL) process is a way to produce environmentally safe synthetic motor oils, to utilize low-pressure gases from depleted gas fields, methane from coal mines, and incidental oil gas.
Sibur Holding in 2004 – 2005
|
|
2004 |
2005 |
2005/2004(%) |
|
Liquified hydrocarbon gases, thousand tons |
2817 |
2891 |
102,6 |
|
Monomers and monomer-containing fractions, thousand tons |
1747 |
1867 |
106,9 |
|
Synthetic rubbers, thousand tons |
573 |
584 |
101,9 |
|
Polymers, thousand tons |
431 |
465 |
107,9 |
|
Production of organic synthesis, thousand tons |
762 |
813 |
106,7 |
|
Fuel its components, and lubricants, thousand tons |
535 |
651 |
121,7 |
|
Tires, million pieces |
15,2 |
13,4 |
88,2 |
Synthetic liquid fuel is engine fuel made from gas rather than oil.
Conversion of natural gas to synthetic liquid fuels (SLF) or, in internationally accepted terminology, the GTL process, has long been an area of special interest for major oil companies such as Shell, ExxonMobil, BP, ChevronTexaco, ConocoPhillips, Sasol, and others.
A few years ago, some skeptics still cast doubt over the GTL process as a method to distill SLF. Back then, the GTL process was only viewed as a method to generate extra clear diesel fuel to reduce pollution in major metropolitan communities. Tests had shown that by replacing the conventional diesel fuel with GTL products in public transportation harmful emissions, including greenhouse gases, could be substantially reduced.
But new ways to use the GTL process have since emerged, and they seem particularly suited for nations with huge reserves of gas that are far removed from consumers in the absence of transportation infrastructure. If used on an industrial scale, the GTL process will enable gas producing countries or companies to convert their huge gas resources – previously considered economically non-viable to extract and ship – into highly marketable products.