PROSPECTS OF DEVELOPMENT OF PETROLEUM PROCESSING

IN WESTERN SIBERIA

V. I. G u b e r n s k i i , V. B. R e b e l ' s k i i , and L. T. Y u s h i n s k i i

UDC 665.5(571.1)

The basic principle of locating petroleum-processing industry is its proximity to the product markets. This principle is applicable also to the eastern regions of the country.

According to the data, the eastern regions account for more than one-fourth of the total consumption of petroleum products of the country. The development of industries, agriculture, and various types of transport in the eastern regions considerably increases the demand for petroleum products. This gives ground for appreciab!y in- creasing the petroleum-processing capacities in these regions.

In respect of the eastern regions (by which we mean the regions of Siberia, the Far East, and Kazakhstan) we cannot ignore the influence of the petroleum-processing industry of the Volga region, particularly the Bashkirian ASSP,, on the scale and rate of development of petroleum processing in these regions.

The capacities in Bashkiria are three and half times more than what would have been advisable here if we consider the demand of her dependent regions. As a result, the products of the Bashkirian refineries are transported and will be transported for a long time to come,to many economic regions of the country which are often quite far. Thus, the distribution zone for the light oils of the Bashkirian ASSR includes the regions of Western and Eastern Si- beria, the Par East, Kazakhstan, etc. The surplus capacity in the regions of Bashkiria, referred to above, will be much higher (2.2-2.5 times) than the demand of the neighboring regions even up to 1975. In 1970 the distance of transportation of light oils from Bashldria to the easter regions will remain the same as at present though the volume of products transported will be somewhat reduced (by 15-20%).

According to our calculations, the transporting costs for supplying the regions of Siberia and the Far East at that time will be from 3 to 13 rubles per ton. For the expected volume of delivery of light oils for 1970 from Bashkiria and for the optimum extent of recovery of these products in the eastern regions; the reduction in the crude processing volume here should be 16-17 million t per year. In other words, should the surplus light products not come from Bashkiria, it would be possible and necessary tO build 2-3 new refineries of 6-9 million ton capacity

each by 1970.

The data quoted above essentially explain why the level of development of petroleum processing in the eastern regions lag behind the demand for petroleum products.

The long-term plan of locating refineries should provide for increased additional capacities, particularly in the most remote regions. This will subsequently reduce the distance and the cost of transporting petroleum products from the Volga and Ural regions. The national economy will derive the greatest benefit only if the capacities are increased through construction of new refineries in the Far East, Eastern Siberia, and Kazakhstan.

The recent studies on the plan of location of refineries show that there will be reasons for building and putting on stream by 1975 one more refinery in the eastern regions, namely in Western Siberia. These reasons are briefly

the following.

As mentioned above, a transporting pattern has been developed according to which the surplus petroleum products from the Volga and the Ural regions are dispatched to the east --to Siberia, the Far East, and other regions, through a system of product lines and by railroad. The crude oil from the Volga region is also sent in this direction for being processed at the existing refineries of these regions. With the discovery and intensive development of enormous oilfields in the Western Siberia the proportion of the Volga-crudes in the total volume processed at the eastern refineries will continue to fall.

State Planning and Designing Institute for Petroleum Refineries. Translated from Khimiya i Tekhnologiya Topliv i Masel, No. 11, pp. 53-55, November, 1967.

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Considering the planned development rate of oi l production and the full sat isfaction of the crude-oi l require-

ment of the existing and projected refineries in the eastern regions, we have ca lcu la ted that it wil l be necessary

even in 1973-1975 to transport large amounts of the Siberian crude to the European part of the country, i . e . , in

countercurrent to the light products, which travel to the eastern regions from the Volga and the Ural regions.

Under these conditions, the transporting expenditure for supplying petroleum products to the eastern regions

wil l increase relat ively. According to our reckoning, i t wil l be advisable by 1975 to reduce the earl ier planned

volume of del ivery of petroleum products to the eastern regions and thereby crea te conditions for set t ingup add i - t ional capaci t ies in the Western Siberia. We can mention Western Siberia in part icular , because here are appear- ing not only the largest sources of crude oil but also large new consumers of petroleum products; this point was not taken into account by the ear l ier variants of the plan of locations. The advisabil i ty of sending to the European re - gions a portion of the l ight products, which are manufactured at the Bashkirian refineries and are now used in the eastern regions, is confirmed by the results of the following calculat ion, Two variants of using a part of the surplus Bashkirian production have been considered.

V a r i a n t I

Light and certain dark-colored petroleum products of the Bashkirian refineries wil l be sent as now to Western

Siberia and other eastern regions, and a portion of the furnace fuel to the Ural region.

The whole of the surplus Western-Siberian etudes will be piped to the European regions, part icular ly to feed the new op t imal - s i ze capaci t ies in the Central region ( tenta t ively in the Ryazan' area).

According to this variant the addit ional refinery will be located in the European regions, and the Western- Siberian crude will be transported in conntercurrent to petroleum products, which wilt t ravel to the east.

V a r i a n t I I

Light oils, furnace fuel, and other petroleum products (of amount same as in variant I) wilt be sent not to Western-Siberia and the Ural, but to the European regions ( tenta t ively as far as Ryazan'). Several regions of Western- Siberia wil l be supplied with petroleum products from a new refinery (to be located in these regions) having the same capac i ty as the one in the European regions in variant I. A portion of furnace fuel from the new Western- Siberian refinery will be sent to the Ural region.

The volume of surplus Siberian crudes, which are transported to the European part of the country, wil l be re- duced in this variant to the extent of the capaci ty of one new refinery.

In working out the above variants the volume of light oils, by which amount the deliveries of petroleum prod- uets from Bashkiria to the European regions have to be increased, was determined after making al lowance for the furnace-fuel requirements of these regions.

For calcula t ing the cost in variants I and II we have considered the u t i l iza t ion of the existing and planned crude and product pipelines, and railroads.

The costs of transporting crude oil and products for the variants using a portion of the surplus petroleum prod- ucts of Bashkiria were ca lcu la ted as follows (in mi l l ion rubles):

Variant I Variant II

Investment 51.4 33.0 Annual expenditure 20.1 t5.6

As is seen, with considerable flow of crude from the eastern to the European regions i t wil l be advisable to l imi t the sending of Bashkirian petroleum products to Western Siberia and make up this reduced delivery by bui ld- ing a new refinery in the lat ter region. The expected lower cost of building a refinery in the European regions can not alter this conclusion, since the addit ional expenditure on the Western-Siberian refinery will be paid off in a very short t ime.

It is obvious that the magnitude of the effect will increase in proportion to the fal l in the volume of l ight-oi ls deliveries to the east i f this does not, however, lead to an excessive increase in the transportation of furnace fuel to the European regions.

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The recent general studies show that the Tyumen' and the Omsk regions of Western Siberia offer the most favorable conditions for locating a new refinery. These regions have good sites for construction on the banks of large rivers in the immediate vicinity of crude pipelines, and other means of transport, which are under construc- tion or are planned.

However, the building and subsequent operation of a refinery in any of the above regions will have specific peculiarities (for example, fuel delivery to the refinery), which can be taken into account only when the complex of works has been completed (technoeconomic peculiarities). The latter is being performed by several institutes under the overall methodological control of the Council for the Study of Productive Strength of the USSR State Planning Commission. Unhappily. this work is taking too long.

In this work it would be necessary to determine the prospects of development of individual branches of the national economy. On this basis one should determine the requirement for petroleum products in the Western-Si- berian regions, the optimum capacity of the refinery, and the rational fuel-energy balance for these regions. This will make it possible to work out the production pattern of the refinery and a number of other characteristics, without which the correct selection of a particular site and the time of putting the refinery on stream is difficult.

S U M M A R Y

1. According to the current transportation pattern, the eastern regions receive Iarge amounts of petroleum products from the Volga region, mostly from Bashkiria and the Ural, where they are surplus. This situation is re o sponsible for checking the development of new crude-processing capacities in the east.

The large volume of delivery of petroleum products to the eastern regions will persist also during the next

f ive-year plan.

2. For this reason we cannot support the suggestion for commissioning a new refinery in Western Siberia in the next 5-6 years. During this period the Western-Siberian regions and others will have reliable sources for meet- ing their increasing requirement in the form of the surplus products of the Bashkirian and the Ural refineries.

3. Later, by 1975 there will be grounds for having a new refinery in Western Siberia. This takes account of the expected scale of production of Siberian crudes, rates of rise in Western Siberia's requirements, and the eco- nomic advantage of supplying a part of the Bashkirian light oils to the European regions.

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