Sibur, Sinopec JV to discuss two NBR plants in China, Russia

ERJ staff report (DS)

Beijing -- China's Sinopec and Russia's Sibur have signed a Memorandum of Extended Cooperation on the possible formation of two joint ventures to build two new nitrile rubber (NBR) plants; an expansion of the existing plant in Krasnoyarsk, Russia and a new plant in Shanghai, China. The existing NBR assets of the Krasnoyarsk rubber plant in Russia will be expanded to 56,000 tons per year (IISRP lists the current capacity as 36.5 kt/year, but a press release from Sinopec said it is 41 kt/year), and the Shanghai facility will have a production capacity of approximately 50,000 tons per year.

The Parties are also considering cooperating in the area of polyisoprene rubber (IR) and in other areas, including the petrochemical feedstock supply and the supply of unconventional sources (presumably bio-sourced monomers) of feedstock to Russia and China. In addition they have agreed to hold talks about co-operation opportunities in upstream and downstream.

The announcement was made to coincide with a working visit to China by Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec Corp.) and Sibur Holding said that if the joint ventures are formed, Sibur will provide polymerisation and finishing technology for both of them.

“Sibur has advanced technologies for the production of the synthetic rubber, which in partnership with Sinopec will serve the growing needs of Chinese industry”, said Sibur's CEO Dmitry Konov commenting on the joint ventures. “We are satisfied with the dynamics of negotiation and hope to make a deal”.

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Press release from Sibur

Press release from Sinopec (Chinese language)

Above Press release auto-translated from Chinese