MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Perm facility is 100% ready for commissioning, with the first batch of dioctyl terephthalate coming off the line and shipped to customers as part of the pre-commissioning pilot, as per SIBUR's press release.
"We have successfully completed the construction, inert environment testing and support unit launch stages," said Konstantin Yugov, CEO of SIBUR-Khimprom. "Processing environment testing is currently underway as part of the pre-commissioning exercise, with the first batch of DOTP shipped to customers on 9 March."
SIBUR’s Perm-based DOTP facility will be Europe’s largest production site of its kind, setting the stage for the Company to assert its market leadership with 100 kt of DOTP manufactured annually. This eco-friendly and safe plasticiser is a key component in floor and roof coatings, wallpaper, cable compounds and other construction products designed to enhance their durability and wear and cold resistance.
SIBUR’s decision to set up DOTP production served as yet another milestone in the Russian petrochemical industry’s import substitution efforts while also contributing to the nation’s strengthened focus on exports. Today, the Russian market of common plasticisers faces a shortage of about 60 ktpa, which is covered with supplies from Europe. The Perm-based DOTP project will help substitute a major part of alternative product imports and enable plasticiser supplies to export markets, where the demand for DOTP is also rapidly growing.
As MRC informed before, Russia’s largest petrochemicals company, SIBUR, suffered an almost 8% drop in net income last year to 110.8 billion roubles (USD1.7 billion), citing currency weakness and a disposal that had boosted the previous year’s numbers. The weaker rouble, which increases debt held in other currencies, helped to lift SIBUR’s net debt to 317.6 billion roubles, up by 20 percent from 2017. SIBUR has been preparing an initial public offering (IPO) that could raise as much as USD3 billion.
MRC