A 60-metre-tall water wash column was installed at ZapSibNeftekhim’s construction site. It was delivered to Tobolsk from South Korea as part of the first consignment of large-sized equipment. By now, two propane fractionation columns (106 metres long and weighing 917 tonnes each), heat exchangers, compressors, tanks, turbines, and condensate collectors have been delivered to the industrial port of Tobolsk and prepared for further transportation to ZapSibNeftekhim.

Installation of the water wash column at the steam cracker

Transportation of large-sized equipment from the port to the construction site required building over 20 infrastructure facilities, including four detour roads and a piperack bridge with a load carrying capacity of more than 1,000 tonnes. Over 40 power transmission lines were elevated, taking into account the height of the cargo meant for transportation. NIPIgaspererabotka, a leading Russian research centre for facility design, supply, logistics and construction, was engaged to design all the facilities and be in charge of the construction management.

During the 2016 Arctic navigation season, four ships left for Tobolsk carrying 58 units of large-size equipment not only from South Korea but also from China, Japan, Italy, and Germany. The total volume of the delivery is 60,000 freight tonnes. Most of the units will be installed on the site of the new facility this autumn. This delivery is bound to be one of the most challenging in the history of similar projects in terms of its complexity and routes of transportation.

The project involves more than 20 main contractors from Tobolsk and other Russian cities (Tyumen and the Tyumen Region, Yekaterinburg, Surgut, Novosibirsk, Perm, Moscow and the Moscow Region, and Saint Petersburg), as well as from abroad. Over 7,000 Russian employees will be brought to the construction site during the project. The project also involves equipment and materials manufacturers, as well as design and construction firms from 35 regions of Russia, to deliver products and services worth over RUB 220 bn.

ZapSibNeftekhim will become the largest modern petrochemical facility in Russia, incorporating:

- a steam cracker with a capacity of 1.5 mtpa of ethylene (process licensed by Linde AG, Germany), 500 ktpa of propylene and 240 ktpa of high-margin by-products (butadiene, 1-butene, MTBE and pyrolysis gasoline);

- two four-line units to produce various grades of polyethylene with a total capacity of 1.5 mtpa (process licensed by INEOS, UK

- a polypropylene unit of 500 ktpa (process licensed by LyondellBasell, Netherlands).

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