BASF opens refinery laboratory in Russia
9 Jun 2005
As part of its efforts to consolidate its foothold in the Russian oil market, BASF has become the first company to set up a laboratory on the campus of the Gubkin State University of Oil and Gas in Moscow.
The lab will operate as a technical services centre for refinery chemicals, meeting the demand for performance chemicals from the expanding oil industry.
BASF supplies a wide range of chemicals used in refineries, such as pour-point improvers, paraffin dispersants and corrosion inhibitors.
The new laboratory will focus on combining industrial research with the university’s work to speed up the commercialisation of new technologies, says BASF; for example, one of the main tasks of the new lab will be to upgrade Russian engine fuels.
New additives are needed to reduce the very high exhaust emissions from vehicles in Russia, and the government has set a deadline of 2006 for higher-grade petrol and diesel to be introduced.
‘BASF has been the market leader in the field of fuel additives for many years,’ says Professor Vladimir Kapustin of the Gubkin University. ‘With the new additive packages, we will be better able to meet the increased demand for Russian engine fuels from abroad.’
