Saratov Refinery Celebrates its 80th Anniversary

27 April Saratov Refinery, one of the oldest refineries in Russia, celebrates its 80th anniversary. In 1934 this day the first cracking unit of the enterprise was launched, and residue processing began. Introduction of a new refinery provided a great impetus to the development of Saratov region industry, and agricultural development, as collective farms started using equipment, which required fuel supply.

The next year after its launch, the refinery mastered refining of sour and high-paraffin Ishimbay crude oil. In 1940, the enterprise commissioned atmospheric tubular cracking unit, gas fractionation unit for gas blowdown (propane, butane, methane), and automobile engine oil generator. The enterprise began to produce toluene and isooctane. By the beginning of the war, the refinery came up to calculated capacity of 3.5 million tons of fuel oil annually.

In 1942-1943, the refinery was 80% destroyed as a result of violent bomb attacks by the fascist aviation. However, the enterprise was literally restored from ruins, and Saratov Refinery continued delivering fuel to the front. The plant personnel was rewarded for its labour during the years of war with the Order of The Patriotic War of the 1st Class, and the enterprise received for permanent keeping the Red Banner of the State Defense Committee of USSR.

In 1950-1990s, the refinery underwent full-scale construction of new units, including reformed gasoline, diesel fuel hydrotreater, free sulphur generator, bituminic unit, ELOU-AVT-6 crude oil distillation plant, and treating facilities.

In 2013, Saratov Refinery became a part of Rosneft. In the same year, isomerisation complex was put into operation, which enabled fuel output of Euro 5 standard (standard 5 of technical regulations) with the use of its own components. A number of other large-scale projects were also implemented, including reconstruction of diesel fuel hydrotreater unit and free sulphur generator unit, performance improvement of ELOU-AVT-6 oil refinery unit up to 7 million tons annually, reconstruction of visbreaking section to provide performance improvement up to 1 million tons.

Currently, refining capacity of Saratov Refinery amounts to 7 million tons of oil annually. All motor fuels produced by the refinery meet the highest Euro-5 environmental standards. The manufacturing plan also includes fuel oil, bitumen, vacuum gas oil, and technical sulfur.

Refining products are delivered to Russian customers and exported to countries near and far abroad. The refinery is one of the largest exporters in Saratov region. Products of Saratov Refinery are in the «100 best goods of Russia» list. In 2013, Premium Euro-95 gasoline was recognized as the prize winner, and Pulsar-95 gasoline received the title of diploma holder. These types of gasoline were also awarded with the honorary degree «Novelty of the Year».

The further modernization of the refinery will be represented by implementation of projects aimed at further increase of capacity, improvement of environmental safety, efficiency of crude oil refining, and energy usage reducing.

Today Saratov Refinery is one of industrial flagships in Saratov region, and one of the largest taxpayers to the regional budget.

Rosneft Information Division
April 25, 2014