Today, December 21st, an opening ceremony of a new VKG plant named Petroter took place

Today, December 21st, an official inauguration of a new VKG oil shale processing plant took place. The ceremony was led by the owners of the concern and the President of the Republic of Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves.

In his speech delivered on the inauguration ceremony the President referred to an important role of VKG in the increasing of export balance of Estonia. The President noticed in his speech VKG plans to expand into Serbia and underlined a good potential of Estonian Oil Shale Processing Industry on the global scale.

The Chairman of the Board of VKG Priit Rohumaa: „Today we really have a special day – VKG has opened a new and modern plant which was constructed by our people and based on their knowledge. VKG as the true heir of the First Oil Shale Processing Industry of Estonia takes care of the development of this branch, and now we can definitely say we have taken a new step towards this target”.

The startup operations are ongoing at the plant since mid-October, the right to operate the plant was issued by the Municipality of Kohtla-Järve on November 19th. Bringing of the plant on to a stable production is planned for 2010.

Preparatory actions for erecting of the new plant started at VKG in 2002. A large-scale project preparations started in 2005, and construction works started in the beginning of 2007. All works aiming to construct buildings and install equipment were finalized in October, 2009. 27 enterprises took part in designing and construction of the new plant, the biggest contractors among them were Remeksi Keskuse AS, Fredmaster AS and Viru RMT OÜ. The new plant created 100 new work places.

The project costs reached 1,1 bln kroons. The new VKG plant is one of the biggest investments in industry this year. The project was financed by the banks Nordea and SEB.

The inauguration ceremony will be followed by a festive reception dedicated to the launch of the new plant and the 85th anniversary of the Oil Shale Processing Industry of Estonia (December 24th, 2009).

VKG Oil AS is the biggest and the oldest oil shale processing enterprise in Estonia being in operation since 1924. Its main activity is thermal processing of oil shale to produce shale oil, phenol water and low-heating-value gas. The enterprise employs 560 people.
In the frames of the Estonian Enterprise Competition VKG Oil AS was awarded as the „Best Estonian Enterprise 2009”.

Additional information:

Julia Aleksandrova
VKG PR manager
Теl. 334 2702
GSM 523 2700
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