Lukoil company has inaugurated the PENEX isomerization unit at Nizhny Novgorod refinery with cumulative investments that reached 12 billion Roubles, a press release reported.

This unit will allow to apply low temperature isomerization to light naphtha in order to produce high-octane blending fuel. Russian Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Alexander Novak, Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Volga Federal District, Igor Komarov, Governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, Gleb Nikitin, and President of LUKOIL Vagit Alekperov attended the inauguration ceremony.

The complex’s annual capacity amounts to 800,000 tons. The isomerization unit includes an NK-85oC hydro treatment system, a naphtha splitter, a deisopentanizer column, etc.

It will increase the annual production of commercial petrol by 400,000 tons.

The launch of the facility should allow decreasing annual fuel oil output at the Nizhny Novgorod refinery by 2.6 million tons, and increasing annual Euro-5 diesel fuel output by 0.7 million tons. The refinery yield will thus increase to 97%, with light products yield reaching 74%. This project will also lower LUKOIL Group’s total fuel oil output to less than 4% and increase light products yield to 75%.