Lukoil begins building MTBE unit at Nizhny Novgorod refinery

NIZHNY NOVGOROD. May 13 (Interfax) - Construction of a methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) production unit has begun at Lukoil's Nizhny Novgorod refinery, the Nizhny Novgorod regional authorities' press service said.

"The unit under construction will produce over 200,000 tonnes of MTBE per year. Its use significantly increases the detonation resistance of motor fuels, improves the power, economic and environmental performance of engines, and reduces the content of incomplete combustion products in exhaust," the press service said.

In addition, new facilities were opened on the refinery's premises - an Additive Technologies Center (ATC) and a Pilot Testing Center (PTC). The ATC will provide a full cycle of spare parts production from 3D modeling to the finishing of products. The PTC will become a platform for pilot runs for testing catalysts and samples of various petroleum products on pilot units, including hydrotreating and hydrocracking, delayed coking, polymerization, catalytic cracking, reforming and isomerization of gasoline fractions, as well as in a laboratory for analytical research of raw materials and petroleum products.

In September 2025, it was reported that Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez had received a positive conclusion from the state expert review for the project to construct an MTBE production unit.

It was also reported that in 2021, Lukoil announced its intention to create an MTBE production facility at the Nizhny Novgorod refinery with a capacity of 215,000 tonnes as part of a project to produce 500,000 tonnes of polypropylene and the retrofitting of catalytic cracking units. Lummus Novolen was named as the licensor.

MTBE is an oxygen-containing octane-boosting component and is used to increase the octane number of motor gasolines. The raw materials for MTBE production are isobutylene and methanol. MTBE can be produced both at refineries and at other petrochemical enterprises.