Production has restarted at the Turkmenbashi base oil unit after halting for maintenance, sources told Legion Oil & Gas LLC.
Operations re-launched last week at Turkmenbashi, which is Turmenistan’s state-owned refinery.
“Base oils and slack waxes from Turkmenbashi refinery have great potential as they are still not widely known in the market,” said Denis Varaksin, Legion Oil & Gas LLC base oil and slack wax director.
The Turkmenbashi base oil unit has the capacity to produce 80,000 tons of base oils per year, and is the only base oil producer in Turkmenistan. The refinery exports most of its base oils to Iran and the Black Sea market, mainly to Turkey and Kazakhstan.
The refinery produces three grades for export: SN 180, SN 350 and SN 600. All grades are available for loading with rail tank cars or tanker vessels from Turkmenbashi port. Base oils can be directly supplied from Turkmenistan to the Black Sea market via the Volga-Don canal and Sea of Azov with 2,000 to 5,000 DWT sea-river type vessels.
Exports of SN 600 base oils restarted this year after several years of absence of such loadings. The refinery is capable of producing SN 1200 base grade but did not export this product recently.
The Turkmenbashi base oil unit’s products are of the highest quality among other Group I base oil producers in ex-USSR countries. The product has a light color (less than 0.5 for SN 180 and SN 350 grades), a high viscosity index and low sulphur content.
Legion Oil & Gas LLC started supplying Turkmenbashi slack waxes to Germany this year. The refinery was not producing slack wax during the second half of 2014 to the second quarter of 2016. Turkmenbashi produces slack wax from SN 180 and SN 350 base oils. The slack wax products have a viscosity of 3.8 to 5.6 cSt at 100 degrees Celsius.
Slack wax is a source for producing paraffin, wax emulsions, jellies and other products. Slack wax derivatives are used in construction, cosmetics, candle production and other industries.
Legion Oil & Gas LLC is a niche oil products supplier focused on base oils, slack waxes, paraffin, ceresin and petroleum coke. The company has a presence in Turkmenistan, Russia, Moldova, Turkey and Europe, while it trades globally. The company is registered in Germany and is a “smart cost” company, by optimizing its costs to offer the highest quality services at the best value.
