Vasily Nomokonov, a Managing Director at Sibur, gave a talk at the 21st World Petroleum Congress, describing the global challenges and opportunities faced by Russia’s petrochemistry field.
Vasily Nomokonov pointed out that in the last 10 years the country’s petrochemical industry has been keeping ahead of the oil extraction field and the national GDP in terms of growth rate. Petrochemistry’s relative contribution to the GDP grew in this period, highlighting the field’s potential as one of the drivers of the country’s economy. In the years 2010-2013, Sibur’s investment totaled RUB 239 bn, or 78% of its EBITDA for this period.
Experts estimate that Russia’s polymer demand will grow by an average of 8% each year in the near-term, based on the current per capita polymer consumption figure for the CIS countries, which is below 20% of the level registered for Germany and the US and is 33.3% less than that of China. “There are prerequisites in Russia for a continued steady growth of the petrochemical field, since the domestic market has yet to develop its full potential,” said Vasily Nomokonov.
In the words of the Sibur representative, the major global petrochemistry trends, such as the use of shale gas, coal and biomass as raw materials, largely unnoticed in the domestic petrochemistry field, will feature among the drivers propelling companies of the US, China and other countries to higher competitiveness. That’s why it’s key for Russia now to raise its global competitiveness. The holding company is currently looking into possible launch of two global-scale investment projects, one providing for the construction of ZapSibNeftekhim, a complex in Tobolsk that would produce ethylene and polymers, the other, for the construction, in partnership with Gazprom, of a polymer-producing complex in the Amur Oblast.
