June 5 (SeeNews) - Romania's top oil and gas group OMV Petrom [BSE:SNP] said on Wednesday it has invested around 46 million euro ($51.8 million), starting in 2017, to upgrade the coker unit at its Petrobrazi refinery.
The project involved complex civil works, installment of about 400 tons of pipelines and implementation of automated control and monitoring systems, OMV Petrom said in a press release. The project counted more than 450,000 hours worked without incidents.
A closed blowdown system was implemented at the coker unit, in order to eliminate any potential emissions of volatile organic compounds, thus supporting the reduction of the environmental impact, OMV Petrom said.
The coker unit is where heavy oil components from the other units are redirected and where the final oil transformation processes take place. The coke obtained here is mainly used in the metallurgical industry.
OMV Petrom said it has implemented in the Petrobrazi refinery the best available technologies for the recovery of hydrocarbon vapours in the coker unit. Thus, the 20-year-old system was replaced with a modern, closed blowdown system that ensures complete elimination of volatile organic compounds emissions.
"Petrobrazi is one of the most important refineries in Romania, which can cover the annual fuel consumption for approximately 3 million cars. We invested about 1.6 billion euros in the period 2005-2018 in Petrobrazi modernization, to implement the best available technologies at international level, which led to more environmentally friendly activities", OMV Petrom executive board member responsible for Downstream Oil, Radu Caprau, said.
Shares of blue-chip company OMV Petrom traded 0.79% higher at 0.3850 lei as at 1202 CET on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
OMV Petrom is the largest energy company in Southeast Europe, with an annual group hydrocarbon production of 58.3 million boe in 2018.
Austria's OMV Aktiengesellschaft holds a 51.011% stake in OMV Petrom, while the Romanian energy ministry owns 20.64%. Romania's Fondul Proprietatea holds a further 9.99%, and 18.35% is in free float on the Bucharest Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange.
(1 euro = 4.7295 lei)