Sibur (Moscow), Russia’s largest petchems producer, has brought forward by six months the mechanical completion of ZapSibNeftekhim, the $9.5-billion petchems complex at Tobolsk, said Dmitry Konov, chairman at today’s press briefing in London. The project, Russia’s first world-scale petchems manufacturing complex, will be completed in the second quarter of 2019. It will triple Sibur’s polymers capacity.
Sibur reported 2017 revenue of 454.62 billion Russian ruble ($7.96 billion) and EBITDA of RR160.85 billion. EBITDA margin was 35.4%. Feedstocks and energy accounted for about 40% of revenue with most of the rest being petrochemicals. That ratio will change significantly when ZapSibNeftekhim comes on line, Konov said. The company at present sells about 4 million metric tons/year of LPG, including 3 MMt/y on export markets. When the Tobolsk complex comes on line, some 2.5 MMt/y of LPG will be used as feedstock with exports dropping to 1-1.5 MMt/y.
Konov, in a wide ranging Q&A session discussed what is likely to become Sibur’s next major investment, the Amur gas-chemical project, at Blagoveshchensk, near the Chinese border. Sibur recently signed a preliminary agreement to source ethane gas from Gazprom, which is installing infrastructure at the site to supply methane to China. Gazprom is building six gas processing lines which will supply hydrocarbons and helium. Konov says that, according to Gazprom’s schedule, the earliest the Amur project could come on line would be 2024. A final investment decision on this project is expected in 2020.
Konov: Sibur's portfolio will change with thecommissioning of $9.5-billion petchems complex.
Konov also said that Sibur is in discussions with Saudi Aramco to form a synthetic rubber production JV in Saudi Arabia. “If you look at our projects today, they are mostly in Russia and they are olefins and polyolefins, driven by feedstock availability. But Russia is not the best place as far as synthetic rubber feedstock is concerned. Aramco has refineries and the feedstock. We are discussing scope, which may lead to a broader joint venture.”
In an answer to CW’s question on why Sibur would be interested in joining forces with Aramco, already a partner with Lanxess in Arlanxeo, the world’s largest synthetic rubber producer, Konov said that Arlanxeo’s synthetic rubber portfolio has gaps. The larger scope would involve another potential partner in a project that would produce additional products, he said. In an update on the butyl rubber JV with Reliance Industries, Konov said that he expects the plant at Jamnagar, India to start production in late 2018.
He also addressed the topic of potential flood of polyethylene from the United States. “The US is adding about 15 MMt/y of ethylene capacity, mostly going into polyethylene but with polyolefin demand rising at about 4.5%/year, some 9 MMt/y of new capacity will be needed globally. So, yes, there is a lot of US capacity coming but people are more worried that there will not be enough projects rather than too many."
Article Source: chemweek.com