Sibur-Reliance rubber plant on track for 2018 start-up

Davos, Switzerland – Sibur chairman Dmitry Konov has confirmed that the Russian company is on track with plans to commission a butyl rubber plant in India in 2018.

In correspondence with ERJ, the company declined to provide further details on a start date for the joint project with Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL).

Konov’s comments followed an announcement by Indian petrochemicals major RIL that it had commissioned its Jamnagar 3 cracker.

In January last year, the two companies announced the Reliance Sibur Elastomers Private Ltd (RSEPL) JV to build an halogenated butyl rubber unit at RIL’s Jamnagar site.

The unit would be linked to the JV’s previously announced 120 kilotonnes per annum (ktpa) butyl rubber plant at the same site.

Depending on market conditions, up to 60ktpa of the total future output would be used as feedstock to produce halogenated butyl rubber at the new facility, the companies said.

The halogenated butyl rubber plant will be “well-poised to capitalise on the significant surge in regional demand in tire and pharmaceutical industries,” explained Reliance executive director Nikhil Meswani.

According to Meswani, demand for halogenated butyl rubber is set to show 8-10% growth rate (CAGR) over the next few years.

The market, he said, is being driven by a shift to tubeless tires in India and neighbouring countries, and investments in the manufacture of pharmaceutical closures and tank inner liners.