June 1 (SeeNews) - Russia's Lukoil, owner of Neftochim Burgas refinery in Bulgaria, is considering the construction of a petrochemical complex at the site of the refinery, Russian media quoted Vagit Alekperov, president of the company, as saying.
"There [in Bulgaria] we are making a small petrochemical complex for propylene and straight-run gasoline. It will be an upgrade to the old production unit," Russian news agency RBC quoted Alekperov as saying following a meeting of Bulgarian prime minister Boyko Borissov with Russia's president Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday, which the Lukoil president attended.
According to the media report, Lukoil plans to build high-tech capacity for production of at least 150,000 tonnes of polypropylene per year, with the terms and amounts of financing still being discussed.
The cost of the project is estimated at 1 billion euro ($1.2 billion) and construction is expected to be completed in three years, RBC quoted Gazprombank analyst Evgenia Dyshlyuk as saying.
According to other analyst esimates quoted by RBC, Lukoil currently produces up to 80,000 tonnes of polypropylene at Neftochim refinery located in Burgas, on the Black Sea coast. The company also has a polypropylene plant in the Russian town of Budennovsk, which produces 100,000-140,000 tonnes of polypropylene per year.
The choice of the site of Lukoil's refinery in Burgas, on the Black Sea coast, for expansion of the petrochemical complex can be explained by the access to cheap raw materials and the demand for polypropylene on the markets of Bulgaria and neighbouring Turkey, RBC quoted Russian business analyst Vasily Tanurkov as saying. According to Tanurkov, the production of polypropylene for the European market now is more profitable than production of oil products only and will this will increase the value added.
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