Croatia’s INA reaches FID on Rijeka refinery modernisation

Croatia’s INA Industrija Nafte DD has taken final investment decision on a more-than US$600-million plan to modernise its 90,000-b/d Rijeka refinery along the northern part of the Adriatic Sea as part of an organizational strategy to boost performance and competitiveness of its Croatian refining business.

Part of its INA Downstream 2023 New Course programme, the proposed investment plan – which intends to help reduce losses of the refining business by ensuring long-term sustainability and profitability of refining and marketing operations – will involve concentration of crude processing activities at the Rijeka refinery and conversion of the company’s 44,000-b/d refinery in Sisak into a biorefining and petrochemical production site for bitumen, renewables, and potentially lubricants, as well as equipping it to perform as a modern logistics hub, INA said.

The proposed three-year conversion process coincides with the concurrent construction of a heavy residue upgrading plant – or delayed coking unit (DCU) – at the Rijeka refinery, which would include a delayed coker, a coke port, storage installations, as well related pipelines and off sites.

The DCU aims to improve the refinery’s production structure by increasing its output of more valuable products, such as motor fuels.

INA – which initiated the official tendering process for construction of Rijeka’s DCU and associated installations in late 2017 – said it expects the project to be commissioned in 2023.

Conversion of the Sisak refinery into a base for bitumen production was approved earlier this year, with portions of the project for lubricant production and biorefining still subject to further investment decisions, INA said.

A specific timeframe for conversion of the Sisak refinery, however, was not disclosed.

INA is jointly owned by Hungary’s MOL Group subsidiary MOL PLC 49.1%, the Republic of Croatia 44.8%, and private and institutional investors 6.1%.

Source: Oil & Gas Journal