Viru Keemia Grupp
Encyclopedia
Viru Keemia Grupp is an Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

n holding group of oil shale industry
Oil shale industry
Oil shale industry is an industry of mining and processing of oil shale—a fine-grained sedimentary rock, containing significant amounts of kerogen , from which liquid hydrocarbons can be manufactured. The industry has developed in Brazil, China, Estonia and to some extent in Germany, Israel and...

, power generation, and public utility companies.

Operations

VKG's two main areas of operations are shale oil extraction, and electricity and heat production and distribution.

Shale oil production

The subsidiary producing shale oil
Shale oil
Shale oil, known also as kerogen oil or oil-shale oil, is an unconventional oil produced from oil shale by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution. These processes convert the organic matter within the rock into synthetic oil and gas...

 is VKG Oil. The company utilizes two different processes: Kiviter
Kiviter process
-History:The Kiviter process is based on the earlier vertical retort technology . This technology underwent a long process of development...

 and Galoter
Galoter process
The Galoter process is a shale oil extraction technology for a production of shale oil, a type of synthetic crude oil. In this process, the oil shale is decomposed into shale oil, oil shale gas, and spent residue...

. The company also tested but rejected the Alberta Taciuk Process
Alberta Taciuk Process
The Alberta Taciuk process is an above-ground dry thermal retorting technology for extracting oil from oil sands, oil shale and other organics-bearing materials, including oil contaminated soils, sludges and wastes...

. In total, VKG Oil processes 2 million tons of oil shale per year, producing 250,000 tons of shale oil.

The company operates several Kiviter retorts, the largest of them having a processing capacity of 40 tonnes per hour of oil shale feedstock. In December 2009, VKG Oil opened a new Galoter retort called Petroter. Engineering of the retort was done by Atomenergoproject of Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

; engineering of the condensation and distillation plant was done by Rintekno of Finland. The plant has a processing capacity of 1.1 million tonnes of oil shale per year and it produces 100,000 tonnes of shale oil, 30 million m3s (1,059,439,986.4 cu ft) of oil shale gas, and 150 GWh of steam per year. The company plans to start construction of a second Petroter plant in 2012.

In 2008, the company received a permit for developing the Boltysh oil shale deposit in Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

.

Power generation and distribution

In July 2006, VKG acquired Narva Elektrivõrk, the second largest power distribution company in Estonia, and renamed it VKG Elektrivõrgud.

Other activities

In April 2011, VKG acquired assets of a bankrupt company Silbet Plokk that manufactured cinder blocks for construction from oil shale burning residue. The company was renamed VKG Plokk.

Subsidiaries

Main subsidiaries of VKG are:
  • VKG Oil - shale oil producer
  • Viru RMT – company producingn, assembling and repairing of metal structures, pipelines and pressure equipment
  • VKG Transport – transportation company
  • VKG Energia - heat and power company
  • VKG Soojus – heat and power company
  • VKG Elektrivõrgud
    VKG Elektrivõrgud
    VKG Elektrivõrgud is an electricity distribution company in Estonia. It is a subsidiary of Viru Keemia Grupp. VKG Elektrivõrgud is the second largest power distribution company in Estonia after Eesti Energia Jaotusvõrk.-History:History of the company reaches back to 1952...

    – electricity distribution company
  • VKG Elektriehitus – construction of power systems
  • VKG Kaevandused – oil shale mining
  • VKG Plokk – production of cinder blocks
  • OOO Slantsehim (73.4%) – developer of Boltysh oil shale deposit in Ukraine
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