December 20 (SeeNews) - Croatian oil and gas company INA [ZSE:INA] said on Friday it has signed a 3.3 billion kuna ($492 million/444 million euro) contract with Italian company KT - Kinetics Technology (KT) for works on its Rijeka refinery revamp project.
This is the first step towards the implementation of the project after last week the INA Management and Supervisory Boards made a decision on the investment, supported both by the Croatian Government and MOL as the two major shareholders, the Croatian company said in a statement.
The total investment in the project is seen at 4.0 billion kuna, the statement added.
Earlier this month, INA's management board unanimously approved the investment in the Rijeka refinery Residue Upgrade project, with the two major shareholders of INA - roatia's government and Hungary's MOL - both supporting the planned investment.
The project will include the Residue Upgrade, the reconstruction of existing refinery units as well as building a new port with closed petroleum coke storage. The Residue Upgrade unit, using a delayed coker technology, will improve the refinery's product structure by increasing the share of profitable white products such as motor fuels. Its commissioning is expected in 2023.
The investment is part of the INA Downstream 2023 New Course transformation programme, which aims to turn the company’s refining and marketing segment into a sustainable and profitable business.
The programme also includes the concentration of INA's crude refining activities in the Rijeka refinery and the conversion of the Sisak refinery into an industrial site to serve as a base for bitumen production, a logistic hub and potentially for lubricant production and a bio-component refinery, subject to further investment decisions, INA has said.
The project for the conversion of the Sisak refinery was approved in March.
INA shares traded flat at 3,140 kuna by 11:39 CET on Friday on the Zagreb bourse.
(1 euro = 7.43713 kuna)
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