May 23 2005
BASF will open a technical service centre for refinery chemicals at the Gubkin State University of Oil and Gas in Moscow. The Ludwigshafen-based chemical company is the first company to set up a laboratory on the Gubkin campus. The new service centre will enhance BASF’s presence in the oil industry market. Russia will play a key role because of the large increase in demand for performance chemicals for the oil industry that has been generated by expanding local oil production.
BASF has been marketing and distributing additives in Russia for many years, and the specialised service laboratory enhances the products and services that the company offers. “The new service centre underlines our commitment to the Russian oil industry“, said Sergei Andreev, BASF Regional Sales Manager. “By offering a regional technical service, we can respond quickly to the specific demands of the local market. Our leading position in the refinery chemicals sector is chiefly due to the broad spectrum of innovative products that we supply”. The products supplied by BASF include pour-point improvers and paraffin dispersants for middle distillates, lubricity improvers, corrosion inhibitors, antioxidants, metal deactivators, stabilisers, conductivity improvers and cetane number improvers, and anti-icing additives for jet fuel.
Many factors influenced BASF choice of Gubkin University as the location for the new laboratory. The university is the leading academic institution in the field of oil and gas technology in Russia. The department, which is headed by Prof. Vladimir Kapustin, offers extensive courses in all subjects that relate to the oil and gas industry: geology and exploration, oilfield development, transport and distribution, business administration, environmental sciences and even law. The key to success is to combine university-based and industry-based research, and the aim of the oil and gas experts at Gubkin University is to make economic use of innovations more quickly. Prof. Kapustin’s students will have the opportunity to familiarise themselves with up-to-date processes and practices in cooperation with colleagues from BASF. One of the main tasks for BASF’s research staff in the next few years will be to work together with the students to upgrade Russian engine fuels. Prompted by very high exhaust emissions, the government in Moscow has decided to specify higher-grade gasoline and diesel fuel with effect from January 2006, and these standards can only be achieved by using additives. “BASF is our ideal partner. BASF has been the market leader in the field of fuel additives for many years. With the new additive packages, we will be better able to meet the increased demand for Russian engine fuels from abroad”, said Prof. Kapustin. Fuels formulated with BASF additives conform to the demands of the automobile industry world-wide and to international legal requirements, such as the standards set by the European Union.
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