China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec Corp.), a major global petroleum and petrochemical enterprise group, and SIBUR, a leading Russian gas processing and petrochemicals company, entered into a joint venture developed on the site of the Krasnoyarsk Synthetic Rubber Plant. 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.

Vladimir Razumov said, “This joint venture is representative of SIBUR’s continuing relationship with Sinopec. China is a major consumer of KZSK produced nitrile butadiene rubbers and with a strong partner like Sinopec on board, we can ramp up KZSK’s capacity and drive growth in synthetic rubber sales.” 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 tonnes per year. 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 tonnes each, subject to finalisation based on the feasibility study.

Source: rubberworld.com