“Orlen Lietuva” will invest 19 million in bitumen tanks and loading capacity. euros | Business

According to Orlen Lietuvos’ Director of Sales Support and Development Ričardas Morkvėnas, in recent years the company was able to produce more bitumen than it loaded and transported, which prevented the full use of its production technical capabilities.

“Bitumen is a relatively seasonal commodity. Old roads are usually repaired in the warm season, when the demand for bitumen increases quite sharply, and in this case, queues of vehicles were stretched at the factory, and we simply did not have time to load bitumen into the road transport. And for that we need additional loading sleeves for road transport”, said R. Morkvėnas to BNS.

“In order to be able to produce not one, but several (bitumen grades – BNS) (…) to expand the assortment, it is also more convenient for us to have separate tanks for individual brands of bitumen for storage before sale,” he explained.

According to R.Morkvėnas, the “Orlen Lietuvos” project aims to be completed in the second quarter of 2025.

“Bitumen is a very seasonal thing. And if we don’t implement that project by May 2025, when the (…) greater demand for bitumen begins, I think that then we can take our time and move to 2026,” said R. Morkvėnas.

According to him, 20 million The US dollar project would be financed by Orlen funds.

As indicated in the environmental impact assessment report (EIA), it is planned to build two new 1,000 sq. m. cubic meter volume bitumen tanks, sleeve for its loading into tankers, reconstruction of the overpass for loading into wagons, as well as equipping a transformer substation with a switchboard.

Bitumen exports are expected to increase

According to the representative of “Orlen Lietuvos”, the company’s greater bitumen storage and handling capacity will increase its export to Scandinavia and other European countries.

“There is currently a shortage of bitumen in the countries of the Baltic Sea basin, especially in Scandinavia, Finland, and Sweden, which has become even worse after the application of sanctions on bitumen of Russian origin. Also, Belarusian bitumen does not reach these countries. That need is not covered, of course, we are one of the closest oil refineries to these countries,” R. Morkvėnas said to BNS.

“We also see that the demand for road construction and infrastructure projects in Europe is still quite high and growing. (…) There are not so many alternatives to bitumen or bitumen-based asphalt concrete,” he said.

According to R.Morkvėnas, last year “Orlen Lietuva” produced and unloaded more than 400 thousand of bitumen, and in the future they aim to increase this indicator to 555 thousand. tons per year – such a result would be achieved after the end of the war in Ukraine and the increased need to restore the country’s destroyed infrastructure.

“We are convinced that if the war ends the way it should end – with the victory of Ukraine, then we will have a really strong and developing bitumen market related to the reconstruction of all infrastructure, including roads, after the war,” said R. Morkvėnas.

According to him, the EIA report indicated an increase in production volumes to 574 thousand. tons is the maximum production at 100 percent utilization. technical capabilities.

The representative of “Orlen Lietuvos” emphasized that the project is simple from an engineering point of view and is more related to the company’s sustainability goals, reducing the amount of CO2 emitted into the environment.

“There are two ways to deal with those heavy fractions remaining during oil refining, or fuel oil. One is to continue to produce some kind of hydrocarbons from it, which are intended for burning, and during burning, carbon dioxide is released, increasing climate pollution, air pollution and all other things related to that,” said R.Morkvėnas.

“In this case, bitumen is a product that is not burned, that is laid on top of the pavement, and it kind of doesn’t release that CO2 into the atmosphere, but locks it in until it’s used as a road or an engineering structure,” he added.

According to R.Morkvėnas, currently “Orlen Lietuva” sells bitumen in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia and fully covers the needs of these countries, it is also transported to Finland, Sweden, in small quantities to Ukraine and sold to loading companies of Klaipėda and Riga ports.

About 970 mln. modernization of the “Orlen Lietuvos” factory worth EUR, during which a deep oil refining facility is installed. The project, whose general contractor is Petrofac International of Great Britain, is scheduled to be completed in September 2025.