ROMSA OIL REFINERY, FIUME

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R000500290007-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 4, 2005
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: April 18, 1947
• Content Type: IR

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next Review Date: 2308
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CENTRAL INTEL U: GROUP
INTELLIGENCE
COUNTRY agoslaaia
SUBJECT R MA oil Ref i.ner4 ',
ORIGIN
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7
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REPORT `
.011.F -V 1, L.0
J01 I
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PAGES 44
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DI.ST 18 April 1914?
SUPPLEMENT
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A. 1939-l946:
1. HO MOM (R ,:ffi is Dlii iLinerali Societa Anonima) of Fume had &M ined
1939 an annual production of more than 120,000 tons of processed
producsts. The installation provided employm nt for about 2,000 persons,
nc: rid n ; e irve-a ; s, technicians, sp ciallists, and workmen. At that
tame .ROA haead a total storage c~.mapaacity (steel bulk storage tanks) of
65.r
a tons.
Allied boas ardments during she czar did not cause irreparable damage
to the plant's facilities, with the eareption of a fee buildings and a
wWbs tial part e f th 3 storage tanks. Howevor, at the time of the
Oer an collapse the condition of Rt A it t-al ,ations was very poor.:, In
dita_on to the bomb doge., R03 had lost the eleanu plant,, removed
by the Germ , to Moggio Udinese, on the Udine?Tarv-iaio railway line.
The other product-Lon facilities had almost ceased to function daze to wear
;ear, lack of proper maintenance and especially due to the damage
caused by the pro'longed. processing of inferior or contaminated crude
pet
. :la a, By r idr-19hh~, the capacity of the storage tanks did not exceed
waa,OOO tons. The conveyor syetcrns between the plant and the port, and
in the port itself were destroyeda, as rex a the pumps and rail connections.
1 JA (Military Admi}:xiatration of the Yugoslav Arz r- - equivalent agency
of AM) 9+ extended to R0SA: all. possible aid to hasten the reconstruction
and reactivation of the plant. At. the beginning of 1946 the combined
facilities were producing about 600 tons of processed products monthly.
At that time the plant became a part ' of the nationalized entity Kambinaat
ma Ni.ftt, and the reconstruction work received additional impetus through
the efforts of Yugoslav and Russian co missions and technicians, who
obtained needed materials and funds from the Belgrade Government. During
1946 production rose first to 1000 and then to 15W tons montbly.. with
a total of 10,000 tons of crude petroleum being processed.
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atenvl-
CENTRAL INTETZIGLNGE GROUP
4. Yugoslav petroleum conies from the wells of Gojlo and Selnica,
(iedjumurje region) and must be processed separately as each pro-
duces petroleum with different characteristice. Crude petroleum
from Goj1o has varying characteristics and chemical content, which,
on the average, is about as follows, before refining:
To 100 parts of crude petroleum: 10 parts gasoline
30 parts kerosene
18 parts gas-oil (gasolio )
2 parts waste
40 Parts fuel oil for heating
plants and ship boilers
Crude petroleum from Sclnica has a more stable chemical content and
contains the following averago quantities of the products indicated:
To 100 parts of crude petroleum: 25 parts gasoline
22 parts kerosene
13 parts gas-.oil
3 parts waste
37 parts paraffin distillate
from which is extracted
paraffin and lubricating
oil
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AAll processed. products were seat, to Yugoslavia. A portion of the
low-grade oil was allocated to the Navy at Fiume.
During 1946 the factory was frequently inspected by an Italian-speaking
Russian engineer who was regarded as much more competent than the Yugoslav
inspectors and was considerate toward all personnel. only on one occasion
was the plant visited by Yugoslav technicians from Belgrade and these were
on a research assignment for KZN,
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5. The "Porto Petrolio", opposite the plant on the waterside, represented
a part of the RO MSA facilities. The port was linked to the plarit and
to the railroad station by a rail connection, and. was equipp-dd with seven
storage tanks with outlet points ranged along the railroad! line and along
the port embarkment to provide for rapid transfer of petroleun~ products
from, tankoars.to tankers, or vice versa.
B. Facilities
a. Intermittent Refining Plant: toad been restored to working order and
was to resume production about 10 January,,
b. Continuous Refining Plant: In working order, though in poor condition
because of serious deterioration of equipment. In particular, the
decanting equipment should be re-equipped with a centrifugal system
in order to eliminate frequent impurities which occur in the finished
products. Valves are badly worn and it has not been possible to
replace then.
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'ower
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c. Pipestill Plant: as due to begin operating about the middle of
January. Estimated production was to be 15 tons an hour, provided
shortages of crude products did not develop.
d. Cracking Plant: v/as to begin operation abort the end of January
19117. This plant was in very poor condition, and even after com-
pletioTx of present repairs is not expected to regain its full
efficiency. Its expected average production will be a maximum of
thirteen to fourteen tons per hour.
e. High Vacuum Plant. Is nearly ready for work, lac'ia~g only the
completion of some seven percent of the reconstruction. of the
four high vacuum boilers, two are in full working order, and two
are nearly ready. This plant effects primary distillation and re-
processes crude and residual matter which has already been processed
at a lower tens erature.
Distillation Plant with Prc'Heaters: Four boilers of a bank of sixy
and two pro-heators are in full working order. Improvemen.s have
been made on the equipment now operative to make up for the lack of
the two boilers whit i cannot be repaired.
Lubricants Division: In 19)466 produced various types of oils from
the refinement of UNRRA-,supplied crude products, In December it
commenced the refinement of paraffin distillate which renrders oil
for turbines. The activities of the Division are being, steadily
expanded.
h. Grease Division: Suffered the heaviest damage., being total destroyed;
at present it is in an advanced stage of reconstruction.
1. Paraffin Division: In working order. A large production is expected
in vim of the heavy demand for products of this type.
Storage Tanks: Reconstruction has madee good progress, and present
capacity is in excess of iO,00O tons,
k. Pumps and Conductors: The pumping station which effected the rapjd
transfer of petroleum products from tankers or tankcars directly to
the bulk storage tanks was heavily damaged. At present the pumping
station has been replaced by two movable 810 pumps (working in series)
with a central intake and discharge point, with a total capacity of
seventy tons per hour.
L Laboratory: Very well equipped and in working order, being furnished
with all apparatus necessary for the analysis of any product, The
major part of the equipment is of German manufacture, and has been the
property of ROIASA for a number of years. Among other pieces of equipment,
the laboratory has the following: Two microscopes, one for micro-analysis
and one for normal analysis; one refractometer, for oil analysis; one
super.-ther taostat.
!T AL
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C1a.T1TRtLL INTELLIGENCE GROUP
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C. personnel
6. Adm in3strative Director: fvv* Ursieh 25X1
ToChniea]. Director: Ingo Benedict
Technical Vice-Director: Ing. Graf 25X1
other Engineers: Kolich and Rustic 25X1
7. At present there are employed at ROMSA about ninety engineers, chemists,
technicians, and administrative personnel, plus five hundred -,,workmen.
About 150 of these are specialists assigned to ROLi.SA from the Fiume shipyards,
the torpedo factory and from the Building Co-operative, ormployed to accelerate
the reconstruction work.
8. Of the three chemists formerly employed by ROM A, two returned to Italy
early this year, and there remained only Dr. i sal].e. There is a supervising
engineer from KZN named Belan, and ten technical specialists. The Yugoslav
authorities are mach concerned about the departire of many Italian technicians,
as there exists no possibility of replacing them at present.
ec is and Pl coos for ].9 ?
U. jLoS
9.. The technicians of the factory are certain of being able to reach a capacity
of 10,000 tons monthly by the middle of the year if deliveries of crude
products keep pace with plant output. Yugoslav authoritieg are attributing
great importance to itOiX1bA, and at present the Flume. plan: is exceeding the
production of all other refineries in Yugoslavia. in this connection source
points out that frequent deliveries of gasoline have been sent to Osijek,
which would indicate that the (Osijek refinery io not in operation. Alec,
various places of equipm nt, including a f; aotionating. device, have been
transferred to RO;1SA from the, refinery of Smederevo, from which it appears
that the latter installation is at least only partially active. Aside from
these two refineries, there rennin only the plant at Bosarlski Brod (Standard)
and at Caprag (Shell) and a number of small secondary plants used' the
Germans, in the vicinity of the oil wells, to produce a low-grade distillation
and inferior lubricants, all of which caused danago to machinery in which
they yore used.
10. 'lith regard to the availability of crude petroleum, it is certain that the
h, a
Yugoslav wells cannot supply to H0 1145A more than 2000 tons pea
therefore urgent anaCySes have been made of crude Albanian products
view to the possibility of utilizing these sources. These analyses have
indicated that such petroleum has a very high sulphur ca nten t (2.66"}' ),
which necessitates a lengthy ruf'ining process with lead, chemicals (piombito
sodico ), and Which even then cannot be guaranteed against damaging motors.
The Central. Direction of KZN awaited anxiously the result of these analyses
of Albanian petroleum in the ROMSA laboratories, which Wads to the belief
that no other laboratory' in Yugoslavia is equipped to undertake research of
this tame,
U. The ROMSA managonnent has received instructions from KZN to acquire the
neighboring area f or~rncarly the site of the t'Compensum" plywood factory, which
was destroyed by bombs. This area borders the W'MMSA plant on the east. If
this purchase is effected, it is planned that it vrlll be utilized for the
following installations; the shipping section, section for cleaning tanks
and barrels, storage of reserve materials, deposit of waste products. In the
area already occupied by 11OM A, new facilities are due to be installed, includ-
ing hydrogenating equipment from the USSR. Espeoially active , are the
sections processing, paraffin and lubricants. A three--story laboratory building
is in the process of construction.
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