TAIF Group at Tatarstan Gas and Petrochemical Forum: four awards on first day

At a new venue for the first time

The forum that was traditionally hosted at Kazan Fair has changed its location for the first time this year and gathered participants and guests in huge halls of the new Kazan Expo exhibition centre. This is why the discussion of the advantages of Expo probably became one of the main topics among participants and guests of the forum, especially those who came from other cities when waiting for the official opening ceremony of the event.

Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov, Vice Energy Minister of Russia Anton Inyutsyn, Vice Prime Minister of Tatarstan and Minister of Industry and Trade of the republic Albert Karimov, President of the Union of Oil and Gas Producers of Russia Gennady Shmal, Director General of TAIF JSC Ruslan Shigabutdinov, Director General of Tatneft PJSC Nail Maganov, Vice President of NK-LUKOIL PJSC and Director General of Ritek JSC Nikolay Nikolayev stepped onto the stage at 9 a.m. sharp. Rustam Minnikhanov took the floor first.

“We all have missed such forums. It is a pity that not all of our partners have managed to come, but most participants are here. I am sure that this forum is in high demand and is very necessary,” the Tatarstan president noted.

He also reminded the audience that the coronavirus that caused so many problems in the first half of the year was still nearby and recommended the guests not to neglect personal protective equipment and keep a distance. By the way, one of the expositions of the already 27^th specialised exhibition Oil. Gas. Petrochemistry, which traditionally takes place during the forum, is represented by companies that made a considerable contribution to the prevention and fight against the spread of COVID-19. And Polymatiz — Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC’s subsidiary — became one of the brightest exhibitors. It is one of Russia’s few producers of nonwoven fabric including for medical masks and single-use hazmat suits and was the first in the republic to set up mask production, which suddenly became a number one commodity.

“Indeed, the forum is a milestone on the regional schedule of events. I wish that people who gathered here will exchange opinions to create new technology. Today the Fuel and Energy Complex is a leading sector that drives the economy, and not only for Tatarstan but also for all Russia. This, indeed, is the foundation for the development of our country. Moreover, gas and petrochemistry plan to become the central topic here. I think that one of today’s key tasks of our country is to increase non-feedstock, non-energy export. The line of products that is made today both in Tatarstan and in other regions in general that depend on gas and petrochemistry will become a breakthrough sector in the next years,” Anton Inyutsyn stressed in his welcome speech.

“These meetings are always very interesting and, most importantly, useful. This is probably the case when the top management of the country considers the documents that are adopted here so that our complex will develop as it should,” Gennady Shmal added.

It already became a tradition to honour winners of Leader of Polymer Processing in the Republic of Tatarstan competition at the opening ceremony. This year Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC won the Grand Prix in the nomination Leader of Innovation in Production and Processing of Rubber and Rubber Goods. Tatarstan Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade Albert Karimov gave Director General of the complex Ayrat Safin the award.

Then the ribbon was traditionally cut. Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov, Vice Minister of Energy of Russia Anton Inyutsyn and President of Russia’s Union of Gas and Oil Producers Gennady Shmal were entrusted with launching the business part of the forum and opening the exhibitions held within the forum.

Nizhnekamskneftekhim has the safest stand

“While I will be making a presentation, dear guests, you can use the antiseptic made at NKNK. And we got a certificate of compliance as a disinfectant. This is why I think it is the safest stand,” Director General of Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC Ayrat Safin welcomed high-ranking guests looking over the expositions.

Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov who approached in company with Anton Inyutsin and TAIF JSC Director General Ruslan Shigabutdinov was the first to accept the proposal. Both the federal vice minister and head Tatarstan Investment Development Agency Taliya Minullina also got a bottle of antiseptic. Everybody next to the stand exchanged impressions of the antiseptic made at NKNK.

The formula of the disinfecting liquid is TAIF Group’s Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJCS’s development. At the height of the pandemic when it was impossible to find antiseptics in pharmacies, the Nizhnekamsk petrochemists created an effective solution, went through all necessary inspections and agreement and now can supply any amounts of the disinfecting liquid. But this isn’t the main business.

“Nowadays production is the key business. Rubbers account for 40% of production. We are experiencing difficulties with sale and pricing during the pandemic. The management of the republic provides big support to solve this problem. We traditionally produce plastics. The products are mainly sold in the domestic market now. We manage to keep the economy afloat thanks to the sale in Russia,” Safin said. Moreover, with the approval and support of TAIF Group shareholders and management, it was decided not to reduce and stop investments programmes aimed to develop the complex.

“Despite the coronavirus pandemic, we keep implementing our investment programmes. I will briefly talk about the main three programmes. It is the construction of the sixth generation of SBR with a capacity of 60,000 tonnes a year. Up to 90% of the equipment has been assembled now. We plan to begin start-up and commissioning by the end of the year to make the same rubber. Then, it is EP-600 olefin complex. We have launched the project this year, obtained permission for construction. Equipment is delivered by Linde from all corners of the world. About 12 pieces of the column and about 750 tonnes of metal structures have been assembled. It is planned to launch this plant in late 2023. Nowadays about 1,000 people are working on the site. The biggest number will be in September 2021 — 5,800 people,” said the Nizhnekamskneftekhim director general.

Gennady Shmal was immediately interested in the specifics of production. He asked the director about the feedstock the new ethylene plant would run on. He was surprised that the complex planned to use straight-run petrol, not ethane, first. After learning that TAIF, first of all, focused on the local feedstock market, he agreed with the reasonability of the approach.

Ayrat Safin also told them about the construction of Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC’s own generating capacities — a 495 MW CCGT-TPP. The equipment assembly at the plant is already 90% over. According to calculations, the launch is to be in the second quarter next year.

While the big environmental project — reconstruction of biological treatment facilities in Nizhnekamsk by NKNK and TAIF Group — was already competed. A new off-site 15-km tank was commissioned this year.

“The height is up to 15 metres depending on the ground profile. It is a metro, the facility is very complex,” Rustam Minnikhanov explained to Anton Inyutsyn.

Kazanorgsintez: modernisation enabled to increase energy efficiency

Kazanorgsintez PJSC is already ready to voice the results of one of the ethylene production modernisation stages. Director General of KOS Farid Minigulov told the Tatarstan president and Russia’s vice energy minister about this when they were looking the exposition over. The project enabled to not only increase the effectiveness of the operation of the whole ethylene complex thanks to bigger ethylene production but also augment the amount of produced steam and obtain a significant economic profit.

“The project is energy-efficient, it is high selectivity. And ethylene production with its sale significantly grew. At the same time, more energy is generated: we produce by 40 tonnes per hour of moderate pressure steam more that’s consumed by our plants. Due to this, we saved a lot. So last year the economy was about 200 million rubles: 150 million thanks to steam saving, the rest is thanks to lower electrical energy consumption,” Farid Minigulov explained to the Tatarstan president and people who accompanied him.

The production process was fully automated, remote control and management were set up. The environmental impact significantly reduced as well. A fall in emissions on one of the sites turned out fourfold (284 tonnes against 1,176 tonnes a year). Exhaust gas emissions are controlled by Emerson continuous analyser.

Moreover, Kazanorgsintez as well as Nizhnekamskneftekhim keep building their 250 MW power plants. They are planned to run on exhaust gas, which will allow reducing the environmental impact more. As the enterprise notes, the amount of Kazanorgsintez’s emissions are already by far below the norm today.

HRHCF has been refining the project’s feedstock since 15 May

A VVC unit of the Heavy Residues High Conversion Facility has been loaded with the project’s feedstock — tar — since late spring. In fact, the facility turns residues of the oil refinery into high-quality light oil products. Chief Engineer of TAIF-NK JSC Maksim Novikov talked about it.

“Our enterprise takes all measures to launch the facility. Now we are in testing mode and have achieved positive results of tar refining for three months. The conversion of tar into light oil products has been 92%. In other words, almost the whole amount of residual oil product (tar) is processed into light oil products,” Chief Engineer of TAIF-NK JSC Maksim Novikov explained.

Such products as propane and butane fractions, straight-run petrol, diesel fuel with less than 3 ppm of sulphur, hydrotreated vacuum gas oil, granular sulphur are made as a result of high conversion. Director General of TAIF JSC Ruslan Shigabutdinov demonstrated Rustam Minnikhanov the samples and gave him necessary explanations.

The HRHCF processed 703,000 tonnes of feedstock from 15 May to 15 August 2020 in test mode, tar accounted for 404,000 tonnes of this amount, vacuum gas oil did 281,400 tonnes. The production capacities utilisation rate is 72%.

“I think the president has appreciated our successes, and we will keep mastering capacities. The most important thing is to start working, refining and producing high-quality oil products. The process is already stable, but it takes time to hone all skills, detect and eliminate problems,” noted Novikov in a comment for Realnoe Vremya after the presentation.

TGC-16 has increased heat generation by 40% and electrical energy production by 25% in the last 10 years

Billions of investments in the development of TGC-16 JSC generating company is TAIF Group’s contribution to Tatarstan’s energy independence in general. The total heat and electrical energy production has increased in the last 10 years since Group purchased two CHPP — Kazan CHPP-3 and Nizhnekamsk CHPP. Moreover, brake specific fuel consumption per energy unit has reduced by a quarter over the same time. Director General of TGC-16 JSC Eduard Galeyev told Rustam Minnikhanov and people who accompanied him.

“The TGC-16 plants account for more than half of Tatarstan’s thermal energy market in the amount of heat generation. Last year TGC-16’s plant produced 9,3bn kWh. Moreover, the share of combined electrical and thermal energy is 75%. Thermal energy production exceeded 20m Gcal,” Galeyev said.

In 2018 and 2019, the Nizhnekamsk CHPP modernised chemical shops and installed modern equipment. Not only the quality of water treatment improved but also the productivity of water treatment shops increased.

The company has more ambitious plans for the future. TGC-16 successfully went through a selection process of a federal programme designed to modernise generating facilities of thermal power plants and got the right to modernise steam turbines both at the Nizhnekamsk CHPP and Kazan CHPP-3. The works are scheduled to end in 2024-2025.

Petrochemicals in construction

“The construction sector has big potential for consumption of products of the gas and petrochemical sector. Modern construction thermal insulation materials, pipes, plastic window profiles, paints — all this improves the quality of housing development, construction of social and cultural facilities, industrial enterprises,” Tatarstan Premier Minister Aleksey Pesoshin claimed this opening a round-table talk named Expansion of Use of Petrochemicals Made in the Republic in the Construction Sector.

According to him, the republic annually launches the production of construction materials and products used in construction. While local producers are ready to supply feedstock, including gas and petrochemical feedstock. However, some factors impede the sector from developing. They are primarily bureaucratic: difficulties and long duration of inspections and product certification as well as “certain conservatism of current construction legislation”, Pesoshin noted.

Participants in the round-table talk discussed cooperation, somebody took advantage of advertising their products, others said whom they already cooperated with in the republic. So representatives of three out of five companies that gave a speech are business partners of Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC. At the end of the meeting, Director General of TAIF JSC Ruslan Shigabutdinov made the republican Ministry of Construction a proposal:

“It would be very interesting, of course, and, most importantly, useful for us if the Ministry of Construction introduced the programme that aims to increase the use of petrochemicals in the construction sector to us. I mean the areas, the spheres, today’s situation, how much is imported to Russia, Tatarstan, how much is used so that we will have information and address this issue,” he turned to Aleksey Pesoshin and First Vice Minister of Construction, Architecture and Housing Utilities Aleksey Frolov who moderated the meeting.

In reply to the request, the Ministry of Construction promised to prepare a special report and provide interested companies as soon as possible.

Rustam Minnikhanov: “From low-efficient boilers to combined generation”

Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov voiced the necessity of refusing low-efficient boilers in favour of more profitable and effective sources of combined heat and electrical energy sources again at a session of the Tatarstan government dedicated to the implementation of the state programme Energy Saving in the Republic of Tatarstan in 2019 and Goals for 2020.

This topic was raised after a report of Vice Prime Minister of Tatarstan and Minister of Industry and Trade of Tatarstan Albert Karimov. He said that the republic’s GRP energy capacity had reduced in the previous four years. The annual result doesn’t exceed 1%. The region’s potential allows achieving a better result — both he and the Tatarstan president believe. TAIF Group’s management has been talking about this for a long time. It not only talks but also does something. TAIF Group’s three companies at once were awarded in a competition.

So Kazanorgsintez was awarded for reducing energy consumption in production, achieving good results, energy efficiency in the nomination Chemistry and Petrochemistry, the Kazan CHPP-3, a branch of TGC-16 JSC, received an award in Energy Efficiency as Development Strategy. Moreover, Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC got another Grand Prix in New Product.