Last week INA released a statement in which they announced that the Supervisory Board has granted its prior agreement for the Rijeka Refinery Residue Upgrade project.

This investment is increasing the overall efficiency and complexity of the Rijeka Refinery and it is a significant part of the INA Downstream 2023 New Course transformation program, which is aimed at turning INA’s Refining and Marketing segment into a sustainable and profitable business. As a reminder, under the Downstream 2023 New Course program, the refinery in Rijeka would remain functional and the Group would install a DCU (Delayed coker unit) which will cost roughly USD 550m. The main opportunity here lies in the newly introduced IMO 2020. The IMO 2020 is a regulatory requirement set by the International Maritime Organisation which mandates ships to emit less sulphur dioxide by only using fuel oil with less than 0.5% sulphur content (vs 3.5% currently). Due to the regulation one could expect an increased refinery utilization and throughput in order to produce more low-sulphur fuels.

According to the statement, the total investment budget amounts to around HRK 4bn and includes the Residue Upgrade unit, the reconstruction of existing refinery units as well as a new port with closed petroleum coke storage.

The Residue Upgrade unit, using delayed coker technology, will improve the product structure of Rijeka Refinery by increasing the share of profitable white products, i.e. motor fuels and its commissioning is expected in 2023.