VKG plans to begin first launches of Petrorter II in autumn

TALLINN, 8 February, BNS – Viru Keemia Grupp (VKG) finishes general construction of the second oil plant Petroter II in February, first launching of the plant should begin in early autumn.

“The works that are not reasonable to be completed in winter, will not be finished in February, such as asphalting, landscaping, colour corrections of metal structures and equipment, equipment “drying” and other similar works,” said the head of company’s public relations department Julia Piilmann to BNS. Realistically, all works on site will be finished in spring.

According to Piilmann, the completion of construction is immediately followed by the plant launching preparation works, which takes place approximately in June and includes both the teaching of staff, as well as preparation of equipment for launching. These works could take up to 2-3 months.

“If everything goes according to the plan, we will start with the first launching in the beginning of autumn,” she said, adding that minor delays may not be excluded. “With such complicated technological process, the most important in the launching of the plant, as well as the staff, is a full readiness for the upcoming difficult process and it is important for us to carry out all the preparatory work carefully and accurately, without excessive haste.”

When the factory reaches its full capacity, the company did not want to predict at the moment. “In Europe, the average time for launching such sophisticated equipment is 1-1.5 years. Petroter I plant was launched in seven months and we consider this a very successful outcome,” said Piilmann.

“Despite the fact that the Petroter II plant is working on the same technology and has the same capacity as Petroter I plant, we have introduced during construction of II plant project, over 100 innovations, oriented to environmental protection and the efficiency of the technological process” she said.

Petroter II production capacity is 3000 tons of oil shale per day.

According to Piilmann, Petroter II budget is nearly 70 million, the project managed to remain within earlier proposed budget.

Last year, the VKG began construction of a third plant Petroter III, which takes 80 million euros. The plant will be launched at the beginning of 2016 and100 people will be employed there.

Baltic News Service