OMV Petrom commissioned the new gas desulfurization and sulfur recovery unit at Petrobrazi

OMV Petrom, the largest oil and gas producer in Southeastern Europe, commissioned in July a new unit for gas desulfurization within the Petrobrazi refinery, as part of the modernization program initiated in 2010. The new unit determines a reduction in the refinery polluting emissions, in line with European levels, thus contributing to a cleaner environment. In addition, the new unit will have a positive impact on the energy efficiency of the refinery. Neil Anthony Morgan, member of OMV Petrom Executive Board responsible for Refining and Marketing: “The modernization program of Petrobrazi refinery steadily approaches its completion. One of the main objectives of the modernization was already achieved with the capacity adjustment that enables the refinery to efficiently process the entire amount of crude oil produced by our exploration and production division in Romania. In addition, we also aim to increase the middle distillates yield, while having a modern European refinery fully compliant to EU environmental standards. And the desulfurization unit is an important step in this direction.” The project to implement a new desulfurization unit started at the end of 2010 and entailed investments of approximately EUR 40mn. For the modernization and efficiency increase of Petrobrazi refinery, OMV Petrom has foreseen in its budget investments of approximately EUR 600 mn. Around EUR 500mn have already been invested until now. Another stage of the modernization process of Petrobrazi refinery was marked in January 2013, when the Coker unit modernization was completed following an investment of around EUR 45mn. The next steps consist of expanding the capacity of gas oil hydro treating unit and fluid catalytic cracker unit as the last stage in the efficiency increase process of the refinery and improvement of white products yield. (Petrom communique, BVB.ro, August 6^th)