Winds of change INA

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INA is a European oil company that enjoys a strong market position in Croatia and its adjacent markets. The business also has operations in Angola and Egypt. The INA Group has seen consistent growth since conflicts in the region ceased in 1991. Today INA operates around 500 petrol stations complemented by additional sales of consumer oil products produced at its refineries in Rijeka and Sisak. Philip Yorke reports.

INA was founded in 1964 as a result of a merger between Naftaplin, a Croatian company specialising in gas exploration and production, and the oil refineries located in Rijeka and Sisak. INA d.d. is a stock company that has MO listing, with the Republic of Croatia its largest shareholder; however, a minority of shares are also owned by private and institutional investors. INA shares have been listed on the Zagreb stock exchanges since 1 December 2006.

Today the INA Group has its headquarters in Zagreb, Croatia and is comprised of several affiliated companies that in total employ more than 11,000 people.

The company manages a regional network of around 500 petrol stations in Croatia and neighbouring countries. In 2010 the INA Group initiated a significant modernisation and revitalisation programme of its retail network. It remains committed to doing business in accordance with sustainable development and strives towards integrating economic, environmental and social factors in its broad range of daily operations.

INA is a driver of social and economic development that takes care of people and the environment whilst fostering responsible business operations and local partnerships.

Strategic gas fields

In November 2018, in keeping with the company’s growth strategy, the INA Group completed the purchase of ENI’s shares in the strategic Northern Adriatic Offshore gas fields. Following an announce-

ment concerning the purchase of ENI Croatia, INA has confirmed that all the required conditions have been fulfilled and the transaction duly completed. As a result, INA now owns 100 per cent of Croatia’s offshore gas fields in the Northern Adriatic and Marica regions.

This milestone purchase will immediately increase the company’s daily gas production by around 10 per cent and represents another important step towards achieving the full replacement of its fuel reserves. The gas produced in the Northern Adriatic concession area will be directed towards the Croatian supply network, thus increasing the security of the gas supply to its domestic market, while gas produced in the Marica area will continue to be transported to customers in Italy, under the original gas sales contract signed by INA and Eni. This significant acquisition will now allow the INA Group to carry out further investments in the Northern Adriatic and Marica regions.

Key partner programme

Effectively broadening its customer and supplier base in one step, the INA Group has begun a two-year business cooperation with ROX, INA’s long-term consumer of oil products and a supplier of consumer goods. Historically, ROX has been an integral part of the successful INA Key Partner Programme that also involves Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This move will enable ROX to use its INA Partner membership, in order to sell INA’s fuels exclusively at its recently reconstructed, extensive retail site in Zagreb. With the offer of INA’s high quality fuels Eurodiesel and Eurosuper 95, customers will be able to purchase Eurodiesel Class Plus and Eurosuper 95 Class Plus at the same retail outlet. Moreover, the retail site will also be promoting NA Autoplin, INA Gas bottles and INA Maziva lubricants, which will also be on permanent display at the recently refurbished site. Cold comfort

The INA Group manages the biggest retail network in Croatia, within which it offers a wide range of products and services. The company’s strategy is to be able to offer its customers the highest possible quality fuels, especially throughout Croatia’s severe winter months when temperatures drop well below zero, making starting engines difficult and time-consuming.

To overcome these difficulties, INA technical experts have developed INA Eurodiesel Arktic fuel, especially developed for driving in severe winter conditions. This advanced winter fuel is the first of its kind in the region. INA’s Arktic fuel has been developed using highquality ingredients which are combined to provide excellent, low-temperature characteristics in adverse weather conditions, and through a combination of cold-filter plugging point of max -30C and Cloud Point of max -10C a steady engine start and uninterrupted running in harsh conditions is guaranteed.

High-efficiency liquid-Phase scale catcher

Carryover of impurities into hydroprocessing reactors occurs very frequently. Sources are ubiquitous: foreign material may be transported with the feed, corrosion byproducts may be generated in some of the many metal degradation processes, salts may be present due to additives or inefficient performance of other units. While it is important to research the source of the impurities in order to improve efficiency and avoid potential equipment failures, a scale catcher at the top of a packed bed is most often the best way to manage solid impurities and minimise the rate of increase of pressure drop across the reactor.

Haldor Topsoe is installing a HELPscTM scale catcher at the top of one of INA’s hydrocracker. This model comprises a series of settling

pans and filters. The latter are made by metallic cages containing particulate material. HELPscTM (the acronym of High-Efficiency LiquidPhase scale catcher) is designed to maximise particulate abatement in the settling pans. Here, the particulate with largest aerodynamic diameter can sediment. The remaining, finer, particulate is collected in the filters. In this equipment, the gas phase, which typically does not carry particulate, by-passes the filters. The liquid phase passes through the filter leaving the particulate on the filtration surface. Due to the presence of the settling pans, the particles captured in the filters are small and typically much smaller than the clearance in the filter. Thus, the prevalent filtration processes are inertia and interception rather than sieving. One peculiarity of a HELPscTM is to have double raw filters. By means of this design, it is possible to maximise the particulate retention capacity and to classify particles. This often helps to understand the origin of scale, and provide effective troubleshooting.

The equipment has proven effective in a vast number of industrial cases, allowing many units to increase their cycle length by a factor of 2-5.

HELPscTM is typically installed on top of the distribution tray. Most commonly it fits inside the dome of the reactor, above the weld line, in order to avoid any interference with the catalyst volume. The construction allows for installation of the tray on top of third party distribution trays, which is the case in the present configuration of the INA hydrocracker. Topsoe has proprietary technologies to ensure that existing tray support rings, or attachments of other kinds, are sufficient to hold the load of both the distribution tray and the HELPscTM at the operating conditions.

While support rings or other equivalent wall attachments for reactor internals are often available, in certain situations there may be the need of supporting reactor internals by other means. For these applications, we envisage using other means of support. These may be, for example, hanging technologies (from the inlet nozzle, or other flanges of the reactor comprising, for example, the thermowell nozzles), floating technologies, and others.

Focus on sustainable development

Pro-active projects surrounding sustainable development are an integral part of the INA Group’s business plan. These are referred to in its six clearly defined key areas of sustainable development. Regarding climate change on a global level, the company undertakes to implement a full range of projects and activities related to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, thereby increasing overall energy efficiency.

In terms of environmental protection, health and safety, particular attention has been paid by the company to workplace safety, environmental protection improvements, reducing greenhouse gas emission, rational use of energy and favouring suppliers who abide by the same important operational principles.

In addition, the oil industry requires high-level occupational health and safety (OHS), therefore INA has established a comprehensive OHS management system, with special attention being paid to ensuring work safety. n