Sibur launches construction of major petchem project

Tobolsk, Russia – Russian petrochemical company Sibur announced on 17 Feb that it has started the construction of a facility for “deep hydrocarbon-to-polyolefin processing” at ZapSibNeftekhim in Tyumen region.

Describing it as Sibur’s “biggest ever investment”, Sibur said that ZapSibNeftekhim's project is designed to operate a steam cracker by Linde AG, with a capacity of 1,500 kilotonnes per annum (ktpa) of ethylene, around 500ktpa of propylene and 100ktpa of butane-butylene fraction (BBF).

The facility will also include units with a total capacity to produce 1,500ktpa of various grades of polyethylene ‘by Ineos’, and a polypropylene unit of 500ktpa ‘by LyondellBasell’.

The project, said Sibur, is aimed at developing deep processing operations, focused on significant volumes of oil and gas exploration by-products in west Siberia.

The total investment in the ZapSibNeftekhim project has been estimated at approximately $9.5 billion (€8.3 billion), including expenditure incurred and costs budgeted for commissioning, production site infrastructure development and other activities.

The company did not give a target date of completion but said that the construction of the facility may take “longer than previously planned”.