Russian oil producer Gazprom Neft has announced that it will reconstruct its delayed coking unit (DCU) at its Omsk Refinery. The total investment in the modernization project at Omsk Refinery will be more than RUB 5.2 billion ($90.3 million).
According to the company’s statement, technological modernization of the facility will increase the efficiency of the unit and create Russia’s first production facility for needle coke, a valuable highly structured carboniferous raw material used in the manufacture of graphite electrodes, the production of which was previously possible only through the use of imported raw materials.
Gazprom Neft also stated that the reconstruction project envisages the production of 38,700 mt of raw needle coke per year.
Since the beginning of the current year, needle coke shortage has been one of the main factors limiting the supply of graphite electrodes used in electric arc furnaces in the CIS and other countries.