VITEBSK, 23 April (BelTA) – OAO Naftan has been forced to drastically reduce its oil processing volume, the company's representatives told BelTA.
In order to prevent equipment from breaking down due to corrosion and in order to reduce the activity of catalysts used as part of oil refining processes, the Novopolotsk-based company has been forced to drastically decrease the amount of crude oil it processes. On Saturday, 20 April the enterprise started reducing the workload of primary oil processing plants. On Sunday, 21 April the workload had to be reduced by another 10%. At present Naftan's workload with regard to petroleum feedstock is less than 55% of the figure registered in Q1 2019. The AT-8 plant, which was commissioned in 2017, has stopped refining completely.
The situation has been caused by a high concentration of organic chlorides in the Urals oil variety delivered from Russia to Belarus via a main oil pipeline. The concentration of chlorides in the crude oil transported by the Transneft main oil pipeline system exceeds the norm by tens of times.
The Russian company Transneft admitted the problem exists and promised to resolve it within the next few days. Belarusian and Russian specialists are expected to meet on 23 April to discuss ways out of the current situation.
