MOSCOW (MRC) -- The St. Petersburg-headquartered Russian oil and gas company Gazprom Neft has acquired 100% of the authorized capital of Syntaz Oil, which owns Ryazan Petrochemical Experimental Plant JSC, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.
Purchase of this asset will enable the company to become a leading producer of polymeric bitumen (PBB) for road construction in Russia.
The Ryazan plant is the largest producer of polymer-bitumen binders (PBB) in the country. The capacity of the plant is 60,000 tpy of PBB.
The production in 2013 reached 25,000 tons. The plant owns modern equipment and infrastructure necessary for production, storage and loading of high quality bitumen materials. The plant’s own laboratory provides quality control of the products. The plant equipment allows packing in the high-tech packages and to load the trucks.
The Russian PBB market in 2013 was estimated at 170,000 tons, which makes a 3.5% increase compared to 2010. Now the largest consumer of PBB in Russia is the Central Federal District, implementing a range of major road building projects.
"We consider the production and sales of high grade bitumen materials as one of the important potential growth area for the company. Experts estimate the market to exceed the capacity of 500,000 tons by 2025. This is a 3 times increase compared to current production," said Anatoly Cherner, Gazprom Neft's deputy CEO for logistics, refining, and sales.
We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, in late 2012, Gazprom Neft and a Russian petrochemicals producer SIBUR decided to collaborate in the polymer road materials production and marketing. SIBUR will deliver styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) polymers to the facilities of Gazprom Neft. The materials are applied in the polymer-bitumen binders (PBB) manufacturing to improve the quality characteristics of the road surface and extend its service life.
Besides, last year, Gazprom Neft signed an agreement with France-based Total to form a joint venture to produce and sell modified bitumen and bitumen emulsions on the Russian market. Each partner will have a 50% stake in the joint venture, which will build a special production facility at Gazprom Neft's Moscow oil refinery.
MRC