(SIBUR) -- Fluor Corporation and the petrochemical holding company SIBUR have signed a memorandum of understanding for the establishment of a joint venture based on NIPIgazpererabotka, the Russian company's Research and Design Institute for Gas Processing. Initially, Fluor will acquire a 10% stake in NIPIgazopererabotka. Three members of Fluor's management will become members of the Board of Directors of NIPIgazopererabotka.
In the first stage, a working group consisting of representatives from Fluor and NIPIgazopererabotka will launch a pilot project for the design and construction of the Yuzhny Balyk -Tobolsk pipeline connecting the Yuzhny Balyk gas processing plant to the Tobolsk petrochemical complex.
In future the founders of the joint venture plan to build on the basis of the institute's leading design and engineering center in the oil and gas construction market in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).