Serbian refiner Nis has stepped up bitumen production and supply at its 110,000 b/d Pancevo refinery after taking delivery of a cargo of bitumen-rich Iraqi Kirkuk crude.
A market participant said the Kirkuk cargo was shipped from a Mideast Gulf loading point. A political stand-off since March 2023 has meant northern Iraq crude cannot be supplied into the Mediterranean region via the pipeline from Kirkuk to Ceyhan, southeast Turkey.
The switch to the bitumen-rich crude, after lighter grades had been run through Pancevo in recent months, has also allowed Nis to restart its polymer-modified bitumen (PMB) manufacturing plant at Pancevo this week. The higher quality grade, which is produced by adding polymers like styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) in the initially produced bitumen mix, is increasingly used on some road, highway and airport projects.
The PMB plant had been shut since June because the lighter crudes feeding the refinery failed to yield the right specifications and quality of PMBs after mixing with SBS.
Nis plans to run another bitumen-yielding Iraqi crude, Basrah Medium, along with Kirkuk this month, helping significantly boost bitumen production for supply into the country's domestic and export markets — mainly Romania and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The heavier crudes will yield very high-sulphur grades of petcoke, the market participant said.
