Atyrau Refinery exported more than 5,000 tons of benzene
The complex for production of aromatic hydrocarbons consists of two main facilities: benzene production (CCR), commissioned in December 2015, and para-xylene production (PX), commissioned in September 2016. The capacity of the complex is 133,000 tons of benzene and 496,000 tons of para-xylene per year.
However, CCR works in fuel production and PARAMAX is conserved. Kazinform has contacted the press service of the Ministry of Energy for clarification to why the complex is not fully used in aromatic hydrocarbons production.
"The complex is flexible and it can work both in fuel production mode (production of high-octane gasoline) and in petrochemical (production of benzene and paraxylene). In order to increase the production of high-octane gasoline to meet the domestic demand, in 2016 the complex functioned in fuel production mode. This allowed producing 581.8 thousand tons of high-octane gasoline which is 442 thousand tons, i.е. 3 times more than in 2014. Working in petrochemical mode, would significantly reduce gasoline production. And fuel production mode allows for production of small amounts of benzene but it is not possible to produce para-xylene. Last year 7,235 tons of benzene were produced, of which 5,430 tons were exported", Ministry's press service said.
As it explained, after the launch of the deep oil refining complex at the refinery, the company will be able to produce benzene and para-xylene without reducing gasoline production.
