Sibur and Sinopec establish a joint venture to produce synthetic rubbers

Sibur (Moscow, Russia; www.sibur.com) a gas processing and petrochemicals company and China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec Corp.), a major global petroleum and petrochemical enterprise group entered into a joint venture developed on the site of the Krasnoyarsk Synthetic Rubber Plant (KZSK). Sinopec purchased 25% + 1 share of KZSK. The deal was approved by Russian and Chinese regulators. The joint venture was signed by Dai Houliang, Senior Vice President at Sinopec, and Vladimir Razumov, Executive Director at Sibur, during Sinopec’s visit to Russia.  Its newly acquired stake in KZSK will give Sinopec the opportunity to nominate one of its own representatives as a director to the joint venture’s board. Earlier, the parties signed a joint venture to produce nitrile butadiene rubbers on the KZSK site. The shareholders will also consider expanding the Krasnoyarsk Synthetic Rubber Plant’s capacity from 42,500 to 56,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr). In addition, Sibur and Sinopec are discussing establishing a joint venture to manufacture nitrile butadiene rubber and isoprene rubber in Shanghai. The production lines are expected to have an annual capacity of 50,000 m.t. each, subject to finalization based on the feasibility study.