Reliance: New lows for butadiene, advances SR plans

Mumbai, India –  Butadiene prices have hit new lows, Reliance Industries Ltd has reported in a results statement for the final three months and nine months of 2014.

Sharp declines in crude oil prices, continued soft demand for synthetic rubber and new butadiene capacities led to prices for the monomer "touching a new low in FY15," the  Indian petrochemicals group said in a performance review for its elastomers business.

The price declines were accentuated by high operating rates at naphtha crackers, which ensured abundant availability of butadiene feedstock, said the business report for the three quarters to 31 Dec 2014.

Prices for polybutadiene rubber (PBR), meanwhile, dropped 13 percent on a quarter-on-quarter basis due to weak market conditions. However, PBR margins improved on Q-o-Q basis as butadiene prices fell more sharply.

Following the start-up of new PBR capacity at Hazira, Reliance said it aims to increase its share of the share of the Indian market for the polymer.  Reliance is the only producer of PBR in India.

Reliance is also ramping up production at its new 150 kilotonnes per annum styrene-butadienne rubber (SBR) plant at Hazira -  the largest in India.  The plant is designed to produce a full range of dry as well as oil-extended grades of emulsion SBR.

India is a net importer of this rubber, but this new capacity will make the country self-sufficient in SBR, according to Reliance.