The Kazakh-Romanian Energy Investment Fund (KREIF) has made considerable progress in commissioning the cogeneration plant on the Petromidia platform, reaching over 80% of the total operations, part of the project that started in May 2021.
Through Rompetrol Energy, member company of the KMG International Group (Rompetrol) and entity responsible for managing the energy projects carried out through the Fund’s mechanisms, KREIF managed to take new steps in completing one of the most important development projects.
The two heat recovery steam generators (HRSG) were delivered to the construction site near the refinery in Năvodari, each with a technological steam production capacity of 90 tons/hour plus additional combustion capacity.
Furthermore, transformers, pumps, boiler degassers, aerators, electrical cables, underground piping systems were delivered and installed. Also, ongoing are the modernization works of the 110 KV power station, the installation of the natural gas supply pipeline with a length of 4 km and the technological pipelines, as well as the DCS (Distributed Control System), which has the role of controlling the processes, in the first-rate conditions of safety and operational efficiency.
“The project continues with a stable evolution, allowing us to fulfill, step by step, the proposed objectives. The most important equipment has arrived, is in position and we can say that the new energy production capacity on the Petromidia platform will use the latest cogeneration technologies. The created assembly will allow us to function as an element of streamlining the utilities used by the refinery, which will ensure its energy needs exclusively from the cogeneration plant,” said Boris Bucur, General Manager of Rompetrol Energy.
At the moment, the project is in the execution phase around 95% progress on the engineering side, more than 96% on the procurement side, and the actual construction is approaching 72%. In total, the general progress of the project surpassed 82%.
The project, worth over 164 million dollars, is financed by the Kazakh-Romanian Energy Investment Fund (KREIF) and will generate, annually, about 11 million dollars, through taxes paid to the state budget. The investment is a brownfield type and will integrate the assets transferred from Midia Green Energy (former Uzina Termoelectrică Midia), as well as its staff, for the operation of the new plant’s equipment.
We remind that at the end of last year, two SGT-750 turbines were delivered and installed, their use in Romania being a premiere. This equipment use gaseous fuel (mixture of natural gas and refinery gas) with a raw material heating rate of 9,120 kJ/kWh and generates approximately 39 MWh of electricity each.
In total, the new power plant will generate approximately 80 MW of electricity – of which approximately 60-70 MW for the full coverage of the electricity needs of the Petromidia platform and technological steam of up to 180 tons/hour, corresponding to the maximum consumption needs of the platform.
“Through the stability of the Petromidia refinery, we contribute to the stability of the energy sector in Romania. We managed, despite market difficulties, to facilitate a steady flow of raw material for the largest refinery in the country, with the support of KazMunayGas, which ensured predictability in Kazakh crude oil shipments. Now, we are taking the next step, in ensuring the energy needs, with the help of the modern power plant that we are building through the mechanisms of the Kazakh-Romanian Energy Investment Fund”, added Iskander Abdibaitov, President of the Steering Committee of KREIF.
On August 19, 2020, the Kazakh-Romanian Energy Investment Fund signed with Calik Enerji (Türkiye) the EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contract for the turnkey construction of the cogeneration plant, as well as the LTSA (Long Term Service Agreement) contract with Siemens Energy, for the maintenance of gas turbines.
Part of the Memorandum of Understanding concluded in 2014 between KMG International and the Romanian State, the Kazakh-Romanian Energy Investment Fund was established in October 2018, its main and strategic objective being to pursue the development of energy projects in Romania. Its sole shareholders are KMG International and the Company for the Administration of Energy Participations – SAPE.
In addition to the cogeneration plant on the Petromidia platform, KREIF also aims to develop a fuel distribution network under the Rompetrol umbrella. In line with the strategy adopted in 2019 by its shareholders – KMG International and the Romanian State through SAPE – the Fund aimed to reach, by 2025, a total number of 84 units. Currently, it owns 48 completed stations, of which 4 stations are to enter operation in the next period.
The gas stations will sell exclusively the range of Efix car fuels – produced by the Petromidia Năvodari refinery, which is operated by Rompetrol Rafinare, company owned by KMG International (54.63% – directly and indirectly) and the Romanian State through the Ministry of Energy (44.7%).
The total amount of investments being implemented by KREIF amounts to 315 million dollars, at the end of 2022.