Romania's Grampet Group, a key rail transportation player, diversified its industrial footprint by commissioning a major bitumen melting plant at Onești, Bacău County. Constructed by its new entity Biturom, the development is now Romania's largest bitumen melting capacity.
Situated on the industrial platform of the former Rafo Onești refinery, the new factory was to supply liquid bitumen for Romanian and Republic of Moldova road construction. With a process that is fully automated and can treat up to 18 tonnes of bitumen per hour, the factory is to cover about 60 percent of Romania's total demand.
Nowadays, Romania remains significantly dependent on overseas suppliers, importing nearly 80 percent of the nation's bitumen for domestic infrastructure construction. There is only one domestic producer, Rompetrol Group, which produces domestically through its Vega refinery in Ploiești and only meets 20 percent of domestic demand. As a result of this structural deficit, several initiatives to develop import infrastructure have been launched, particularly at Constanța Port. Oil Terminal and Euronova Energies of Switzerland have recently joined forces to construct a liquid bitumen terminal there, JT Grup Oil leading its completion.
On the other hand, Onești unit is regarded as a melting and storage point and a producing platform. It will eventually have four 50/70 bitumen and polymer-modified bitumen plants with a combined annual capacity of approximately 400,000 tonnes—enough to serve nearly 60 percent of Romania's annual demand. The first unit has already commenced large-scale production, while advanced technology for the other plants has been procured from one of the leading technology vendors in the world in this field.
It also features a three one-million kilocalories per hour heat exchangers dependent high-capacity heat system to ensure continuous and efficient operation. It also allows for the addition of a polymerisation line to produce bitumen modified grades to supply top quality for Romania's new infrastructure projects and for the whole region.
The redevelopment of the site has historic significance. Previously the site of Rafo Onești, the nation's third-largest refinery with a yearly processing volume of 3.5 million tonnes, the platform ceased activity in 2008 and declared bankruptcy in 2019 after posting losses worth around USD 400 million. Grampet, under its subsidiary Roserv Oil, had acquired the assets back in 2020 for USD 6 million plus VAT, laying the groundwork for the present-day overhaul.
The opening of this new Romanian bitumen melting and production complex is a landmark for the country's infrastructure sector. Through reducing dependence on imports, deploying cutting-edge technologies, and increasing local capacity, Romania is making a categorical step towards guaranteeing the material supplies required to achieve road building that is sustainable and to link the region.
By Bitumenmag
Bitumen, Price, Market
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