Russia to cover oil refineries' demand for catalysts by 2026 and start exporting - Manturov

KRONSTADT. April 8 (Interfax) - Russia currently covers 70% of the oil refining sector's demand for catalysts with its own production and is expected to produce enough to completely cover domestic demand from 2026 onwards, which will enable it to export a portion of these products, Deputy Prime Minister and Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said.

"Today 70% of the amount of catalysts used for oil refining is supplied by Russian production facilities. However, there are items that have yet to be mastered. They are catalysts for hydrocracking and reforming with continuous regeneration and platinum catalysts for hydrotreating diesel fuel. The overall demand for them totals 1,200 tonnes per year," Manturov told reporters after a meeting of the coordinating council for import substitution in the fuel and energy sector.

He recalled that a project is now being implemented in Russia to build a plant to produce catalysts for catalytic cracking, hydrotreating and hydrocracking at a cost of more than 65 billion rubles.

"Also, with the support of Russian oil and gas companies and companies in the chemical industry, technology is already being developed to produce catalysts for hydrotreating diesel fuel. Commercial tests are already planned. Work is underway to master production of catalysts for reforming with continuous regeneration, and we expect the launch of their mass production no later than in 2026," Manturov said.

"The realization of these measures will make it possible to supply Russia's oil refining industry with these catalysts in the amount of about 21,000 tonnes per year from 2026 and not only fully cover needs, but also ship such products for export," Manturov said.

Gazprom Neft has been carrying out a national project to build a catalyst plant in Omsk with capacity to produce 21,000 tonnes of catalysts per year since 2019. The plant is expected to produce 4,000 tonnes of hydrotreating catalysts, 2,000 tonnes of hydrocracking catalysts and 15,000 tonnes of catalytic cracking catalysts per year. The oil company said earlier that it has partially replaced foreign catalysts with its own analogs at the Moscow and Omsk oil refineries.