Russian SIBUR and Reliancе JV to produce butyl rubber in India

Mumbai: SIBUR, Russia and Eastern Europe’s largest petrochemical company, and Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), have agreed to form a joint venture named Reliance Sibur Elastomers Private Limited to produce 100,000 tons of butyl rubber per year in Jamnagar, India.

The JV will be the first manufacturer of butyl rubber in India and the fourth largest supplier of butyl rubber in the world. The JV will cater to the demand for synthetic rubber from the Indian automotive industry of over 75,000 tonnes per year, which is currently imported.

Reliance share in the JV will total 74.9%, while Sibur will account 25.1%. The JV will invest US$450 million to construct the facility, which is expected to be commissioned in mid-2014.

Reliance and SIBUR also signed a technology licence agreement facilitating use by the JV of SIBUR’s proprietary butyl rubber production technology at the new production facility. SIBUR will develop basic engineering design for the facility and also train the JV’s personnel at SIBUR’s production site in Togliatti, Russia.

Sibur is one of the top two European synthetic rubbers producers and operates across the entire petrochemical process chain from gas processing, production of monomers, plastics and synthetic rubbers to the processing of plastics. SIBUR is a vertically integrated company with its gas processing facilities providing feedstock for its petrochemical production.