Rompetrol completes retrofitting installation at Ploiesti Vega refinery, 4.2 million-dollar investment

Rompetrol Rafinare, a company that is part of the KMG International Group (Rompetrol) has completed an investment of 4.2 million US dollars for retrofitting the Vacuum Distillation (DV) Unit within the Vega Ploiesti refinery, according to a press release sent by the company to AGERPRES, on Wednesday.

The project will contribute to improving operational processes and will also have a positive impact in increasing the environment's level of protection.

"The retrofitting project was aimed at improving production yield of the DV Unit, where heating oil is processed, as raw material, supplied by the Navodari Petromidia refinery and used by the unit in Ploiesti for obtaining asphaltic mix and other derivative products. Retrofitting the installation will consolidate Vega refinery's strategic position, the only unit in the country capable of producing road and special pavement bitumen, products used in infrastructure works in Romania and in the region. Through investments like these, the company contributes to the general objectives of the Group, of developing production capacities, to the highest standards of performance and safety," said Felix Crudu Tesloveanu, the General Director of Rompetrol Rafinare.

The significant stages of the project consisted in design, execution, transport and the setting up of the new technological oven, which is designed to heat up the raw material and fraction it in low-level pressure conditions.

When compared with the old equipment, the new technological oven has a yield that ranges from 86% and 90%, as opposed to approximately 60%, as it was before. Furthermore, through this investment utilities consumption will also be reduced, by using efficiency burners, as also a a combustion air pre-heater.

The technological oven, recently introduced in the operational flow was manufactured by an Italian company, specialized in constructing factory equipment, that has a normal rate of 30 tonnes of heating oil per hour and can reach a 95% energy efficiency.

At the same time, by implementing the project in the Vega refinery, the functionality of the Installation will be supported at higher operational parameters, but dropping CO2 emissions, as well as reducing maintenance costs.

In 2022, Rompetrol Rafinare planned a production of approximately 140,000 tonnes of bitumen, by 20,000 tonnes over the level achieved in 2019, when the largest quantity of bitumen was obtained, until now.

The Vega Ploiesti refinery is the only unit in the country capable of producing bitumen, hexane and ecological solvents, and raw materials and intermediate products come exclusively from Petromidia Navodari, the largest refinery in the country and one of the most important ones in the Black Sea region.

The main shareholders of Rompetrol Rafinare are KMG International (54.63% - directly and indirectly) and the Romanian state, through the Ministry of Energy (44.7%).