Lukoil President Vagit Alekperov arrives Tuesday in Bulgaria for the opening of a heavy oil residue hydrocracking plant at the Lukoil Neftochim Burgas refinery.

The official opening of the USD 1.5 B heavy crude oil residue conversion plant will take place on Wednesday.
Installations of this type are only found in 7 other countries, including US, Japan, and Kuwait, according to Bulgarian daily Pressa.

The plant is also known a hydrocracking unit for vacuum destillation residue.

The new unit will make it possible to make maximum use of the expensive raw material.

The extraction of high-value products from one tonne of crude oil will increase from 74% to 90%.

The process of deep processing will allow the extraction of a larger amount of diesel fuels and mazut with less than 1% sulfur content.

The new plant will give a substantial boost to the competitiveness of the Burgas-based refinery on the European market.
At the same time the products will be in line with the strictest environmental standards of the EU.

The construction of the new plant at the Lukoil Neftochim Burgas refinery started in 2012.

On Tuesday Vagit Alekperov will open the 221st filling station of Lukoil in Bulgaria at the 299th kilometer of the Trakia motorway.