New industrial facility to be commissioned in Turkmenistan by late 2014

The U.S. Westport Trading Europe Limited is installing a processing plant for producing high-quality bitumen at a refinery located in the city of Seidi of Turkmenistan’s Lebap province, Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper reported.
Over $78 million has been invested in the implementation of the project, according to the newspaper. The plant’s production capacity is expected to be 37,200 metric tons per year.
Note, bitumen is one of the major materials in construction of motorways.
Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper also reported that the new industrial facility will be ready for commissioning in late 2014.
Given Turkmenistan’s climate, it is not an easy task to produce heat-resistant bitumen meeting the international standards, according to the newspaper. Nevertheless, this problem was resolved with participation of local and foreign colleagues.
“They studied the production of bitumen from the Turkmen oil rich with paraffin and sulfur. The scholars used the technology for producing high-quality road bitumen. Visbreaking technology was used instead of the oxidation process. The properties of bitumen significantly improve as a result of these processes,” the Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper said.
Visbreaking is the process of disintegration of hydrocarbons into the low-molecular-weight hydrocarbons, according to the newspaper.
Turkmenistan plans to bring the capacity of the oil refining industry to 20 million metric tons in 2020, 22 million metric tons in 2025 and 30 million metric tons in 2030. Currently, the country produces around 10 million metric tons of oil per year and the significant part of this oil is refined by local refineries.