MOSCOW (ICIS-MRC) -- Russia's major polymers producers have reiterated plans to launch import substitution projects in coming years, at the Russian Polymers Summit jointly held by ICIS and MRC in Moscow on Wednesday.
Sibur is prioritising increased production of polymers as a result of significant domestic market growth potential, as Russia still lags behind developed nations in terms of per capita polymer consumption, said Sibur president Dmitry Konov.
The company has ongoing projects to build new facilities to produce polypropylene (PP) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) that will replace imports, Konov said in a televised message to the summit.
In 2013, Sibur aims to start operations at its new 500,000 tonne/year PP facility that is being built at the premises of its subsidiary Tobolsk-Neftekhim, said Sergey Komyshan, the head of Sibur's polymers department.
The construction of a new 330,000 tonne/year PVC plant at Kstovo in the Nizhny Novgorod region is due to be completed by mid-2013, Komyshan told the summit.
Russian oil major Lukoil is prioritising the development of its petrochemical arm, said Alexander Rappoport, Lukoil's head of petrochemicals.
Lukoil aims to build a major gas-chemical complex to produce polymers in the Stavropol region, relying on regional tax breaks, he told the summit.
The complex, designed to utilise natural gas from Lukoil's offshore Caspian gas fields, will include a gas processing plant and new polyethylene (PE)/PP production facilities in Budyennovsk, near Lukoil's existing PE/PP plant. Lukoil earlier estimated its cost at about $2.6bn (┬1.95bn).