New gas plant planned near Narva

TALLINN - Energy firm Elme Messer Gaas’ management said the company is going to build a gas plant in Auvere, near the city of Narva in northeastern Estonia, and start producing oxygen, nitrogen and argon for industrial purposes in 2012. According to management, the plant will be built as part of an agreement according to which Elme Messer Gaas will start supplying the oil industry operation of the power company, Eesti Energia Olitoostus, with nitrogen necessary for the production of shale oil.
In addition, the gas company will start producing liquefied oxygen, nitrogen and argon for sale. The plant will allow it to produce up to 80 million cubic meters of industrial gases per annum in total.

“The agreement with Elme Messer Gaas will ensure us a long-term supply of the nitrogen we need for production, which the Enefit-280 technology requires in bigger quantities than other technologies used for the production of shale oil,” Eesti Energia Olitoostus CEO Igor Kond explained. “It was important to us to find a partner who would be prepared to invest in the project and offer us the service at optimum cost.”

Elme Messer Gaas Chief Raimond Morgenson said collaboration with Eesti Energia Olitoostus is important to the company not only because of building a unique production complex, but also because of the opportunity to implement a project that will enable it to achieve product supply independence.
“The plant will allow us to cover the need of industrial gases in the Baltic States and enter new markets, including northwestern Russia,” he said. Morgenson said Elme Messer Gaas will invest around 30 million euros in northeastern Estonia in the coming years and create many permanent jobs.

Elme Messer Gaas was established in 1999 by BLRT Grupp and Messer Group. Today the company has its offices all around the Baltic States and offers a full variety of gases for construction and industrial purposes and also the know-how, maintenance service and necessary equipment for the use of gases.

Eesti Energia Olitoostus belongs to the concern Eesti Energia and produces, with its two Enefit-140 production units, 1.4 million barrels of shale oil fractions. In 2010 the company began construction of the first shale oil plant that uses Enefit-280 technology. After finishing construction in 2012, the plant will additionally produce about 2 million barrels of shale oil and 75 million cubic meters of retort gas. In the plant there will also be integrated a steam turbine that will use residual heat released during production of oil to produce electricity.

According to some experts, as well as the company management, the Enefit-280 Technology is more environmentally friendly, reliable and has more unit power than previous technologies that were used for processing of shale.