Comprehensive analysis of Astrakhan gas processing plant fuel oil

The problem of increasing the depth of oil refining within the framework of Russia's Energy Strategy until 2050 is being considered, in particular, the possibility of involving heavy oil residues and dilutes, including fuel oil, in production. The current indicators of fuel oil processing in the Russian Federation are analyzed: in 2025, its resource amounted to about 38.8 million tons, the volume of processed fuel oil reached 7.8 million tons (an increase of 5.7% relative to the previous year). The successes of large companies (NOVATEK, Gazprom Neft) in increasing the volume of stable gas condensate processing are noted. The main attention is paid to fuel oil produced at the Astrakhan Gas Processing Plant (GPP): its yield (350 thousand tons or 8-10% of the mass of processed gas condensate), current use (as boiler fuel according to ISS 10585-2013 and a component of raw materials for visbreaking) and potential applications in other secondary refining processes. A comprehensive analysis of fuel oil from the Astrakhan Gas Processing Plant was carried out using methods for determining the main physico-chemical parameters, spectroscopic analysis and gas chromatography for the possibility of its processing (involvement in production) in thermal and thermokatalytic processes. The study obtained data on the key physico-chemical characteristics and component composition of fuel oil from the Astrakhan Gas Processing Plant, including the content of paraffin-naphthenic (55.2%), aromatic (31.5%) and heavy aromatic (11.5%) hydrocarbons, resins (0.9%) by liquid chromatography, and the amount of n-paraffins C6–C36 in the composition. fuel oil samples using gas chromatography, as well as molecular weight (~ 322 g/mol). The results confirm the technological and economic feasibility of using fuel oil from the Astrakhan Gas Processing Plant not only as boiler fuel, but also as a component of raw materials for deep recycling (hydrocracking, catalytic cracking, visbreaking, oil production). This opens up opportunities for increasing the conversion depth of raw materials and producing a wide range of commercial petroleum products: light distillates, vacuum gas oil, bitumen, etc.