The new plant, designed and built by Uhde on a turnkey basis in Szazhalombatta, around 30 km south-west of Budapest, was handed over in December 2004 and produces more than 2.2 million tonnes of diesel a year. With a sulphur content of less than 10 ppm, the low-sulphur diesel fuel meets the EU requirements which came into force in January 2005. The contract was worth some EUR 95 million.

For this contract Uhde was responsible for the detail engineering, preparation of the necessary permitting documents and supply of all equipment and services, as well the construction work, commissioning supervision and training of the operating personnel.

"Uhde's extensive technological experience in the field of 'Clean Fuels' and its expertise in the construction of major turnkey plants was a pivotal factor in being awarded this major contract. In the last five years we have realised clean fuels plants with a total capacity of more than 15 million tonnes of gasoline and diesel fuels. This impressively underlines Uhde's competence in the field of refining technologies," said Helmut Knauthe, a member of Uhde's Executive Board.