SIBUR approves Russia gas processing expansion

Russia's SIBUR has approved the Vyngapurovsky gas processing plant (GPP) expansion project to launch processing of associated petroleum gas (APG) from Russneft's fields, officials said on Tuesday.

New facilities to be built at the GPP will increase the annual APG processing capacity from 2.8 to 4.2 bcm. 

A more than 100-km long pipeline will be laid to transport APG from Russneft's Varieganskaya compressor station to the Vyngapurovsky GPP. The compressor station will also undergo renovation.

Russneft is an existing APG supplier to SIBUR's Nizhnevartovskiy and Belozerniy gas processing plants. 

In 2013, SIBUR and Russneft signed a new long-term agreement for associated petroleum gas supplies to 2025. Under the agreement, Russneft shall deliver APG from Varieganneft's fields to SIBUR, with SIBUR accepting and processing the volumes supplied.

"SIBUR continues to extend cooperation with oil and gas companies, reinforcing its positions in the gas processing industry," said Dmitry Konov, SIBUR's CEO. "The long-term agreement with Russneft is to bring about an increase in feedstock shipments, which will enable us to expand our processing capacities."

The Vyngapurovsky plant, with a designed capacity of 2.8 bcm/year of APG, was built by SIBUR in the grounds of the compressor station of the same name and commissioned in September 2012.

Currently, the major associated petroleum gas supplier to the Vyngapurovsky GPP is Gazprom Neft.