Zarubezhneft's Bosnian oil refinery to start feeding on natgas in Q3 2020

The refinery has already completed the design of the project for installing an internal natural gas supply network within its facilities and has selected a contractor to carry out the construction and installation works, Optima Group, which is in charge of Zarubezhneft’s commercial and development operations in Bosnia, said in a statement last week.

The investment in the gasification project is estimated at almost 8 million euro ($8.9 million), Optima said.

The Brod refinery will receive natural gas via the Opatovac-Bosanski Brod pipeline, which Croatian state-owned gas transmission system operator Plinacro sold last week to Croatian privately-held gas trader Crodux Plin.

Crodux Plin will transform the pipeline, which is now used to transport oil products, into a gas pipeline.

In May the two Croatian companies and the Bosnian refinery agreed on the project aimed at feeding gas to the refinery in order to reduce cross-border air pollution. The refinery is located in the town of Brod, on the southern bank of the Sava river, which in this section forms the border between Bosnia and Croatia. Across the river, on the northern bank, lies Slavonski Brod.

In May, Plinacro and Crodux Plin signed a preliminary agreement on connecting a Crodux Plin future direct pipeline to Plinacro's gas transmission system in Slobodnica, with Crodux Plin pledging to transform the pipeline for the needs of the Brod refinery within 11 months.

Under a separate agreement signed in May with the oil refinery and Zarubezhneft, Crodux Plin will supply the Bosnian refinery with gas over a ten-year period.

Zarubezhneft's general manager Sergey Kudryashov said in May that the operations of the Brod refinery had been suspended since March for a regular overhaul, adding the refinery will resume operations in 2020 once it is connected to the gas supply system.

The Brod refinery is expected to fully meet the EU environmental standards after the overhaul.

($=0.900886 euro)