Development activity
The enterprise’s success is based on its well-planned development activity. The VKG shareholders have prudently invested into development activities in both good and bad times. Although capital invested into development activities initially runs high risks, the economic operation of an oil shale processing industry is not possible without such investments. Concerns about new unknown fields, decision-making and visions turning into reality are the areas that always make VKG’s development activities exciting and attractive.
Although measure finding in a long-term perspective during the economic downturn of 2009 to 2010 was not an easy task, VKG still continued to make strategically important decisions. The main industrial achievement of 2010 in the expansion of oil production was to reach full production capacity in the new Petroter plant and its constant operation since August. Among the projects that were realised in 2010, the most interesting and innovative was the start of a 12.5-km-long oil shale conveyor with curves and turns between the VKG production area and the Ojamaa mine. To date, this is the longest conveyor of its kind to be built in Estonia.
In 2011, the project of diesel fuel production and shale oil refinery has entered its decisive phase, as well as the project for the production of resins based on shale alkylresorcinols. The importance of both of these projects at a national level is illustrated by their co-financing by the Republic of Estonia through the Estonian enterprise development agency. The production of high-quality motor oils from oil shale is VKG’s top strategic priority for the short-term, along with the opening of the mine and the construction of the second Petroter oil plant.
