Gazprom Neft to increase supplies of innovative bitumen materials to the Smolensk Oblast

6 june 2019, press release

Gazprom Neft has concluded a Cooperation Agreement on supplying innovative bitumen materials to the Smolensk Oblast at this year’s St Petersburg International Economic Forum. The document was signed by Alexander Dyukov, CEO and Chairman of the Management Board, Gazprom Neft, and Alexey Ostrovsky, Governor of the Smolensk Oblast.

Gazprom Neft is engaged in successful collaboration with transport infrastructure businesses throughout the Smolensk Oblast, with supplies of bitumen products to the region up 30 percent over the last three years, reaching 15,000 tonnes in 2018. In addition to which, the region’s roadbuilding industry is a major user of polymer-bitumen binders and other innovative materials, including bitumen mastics and protective sealant compounds.

This new agreement will see the effectiveness of modern bitumen materials being tested under pilot applications at transport infrastructure facilities, housing and utilities, and in civil and industrial construction throughout the Smolensk Oblast, with technical support from specialists at Gazpromneft-Bitumen Materials.

All parties to the agreement are committed to actively promoting modern bitumen materials on the local market, by holding technology awareness sessions, by including innovative products in design documentation and estimates for facilities under construction or reconstruction throughout the Smolensk Oblast, and by ensuring the regular participation of the parties’ representatives at industry events, as well as by developing an effective system for sharing technical knowledge and information.

Alexander Dyukov, Chairman of the Management Board, Gazprom Neft, commented: “The Smolensk Oblast has one of the most high-tech facilities for producing high-quality bitumens in Russia, with the Gazprom Neft plant in Vyazma producing innovative bitumen derivatives, many of which are currently unparalleled on the domestic and international markets. This document confirms the company’s view of the Smolensk Oblast as one of the most important regions in which it operates, and a key centre for the development of its bitumens business. On which basis, we are committed to developing our cooperation with the region.”

Gazpromneft Bitumen Materials is a subsidiary of Gazprom Neft, specialising in the production and sale of bitumen products. The company currently holds a leading position on the Russian bitumens market. The company’s key production facilities are based in the Moscow, Omsk, Yaroslavl, Smolensk, Rostov and Ryazan Oblasts, as well as in Serbia and Kazakhstan. The company produces more than 180 branded road, construction and roofing bitumens, as well as polymer-modified bitumens (PMBs) and binders (specifically G-Way Styrelf), and a range of bitumen derivatives (mastic compounds, sealants, bridging tapes and more). The company is constantly developing new formulations, and further improving technology in the production of innovative binders.