MOSCOW (MRC) - TAIF plans to increase its polypropylene production capacity, Realnoe Vremya reports.
Nizhnekamskneftekhim (part of TAIF Group) plans to build a new polypropylene plant with a design capacity of 400,000 tonnes of products per year in the near future. A tender has already been announced, and companies-applicants for the contract from Europe, Korea, Japan and China are competing in whose offer will be the best in terms of the combination of price and quality of performance. Business negotiations with the management of the Chinese corporation China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) and its business partner China Huanqiu Contracting & Engineering Corporation (HQC) took place the other day.
The management of TAIF PSC and Nizhnekamskneftekhim met with the top managers of CMEC Corporation and HQC Company, applying for a contract for the construction of PP-400.
It is noted that Nizhnekamskneftekhim is already one of the leaders in the Russian Federation in this segment with a design capacity of the existing polypropylene production of 180,000 tonnes and a real production of 215,000 tonnes per year. Taking into account the existing plant and the one that is planned to be built - with a design capacity of 400,000 tonnes - Nizhnekamskneftekhim will almost triple the production of polypropylene and become one of the largest and most powerful producers of polypropylene in Europe.
The decision to create in Tatarstan its own production of polypropylene used in almost all industries - from medicine to astronautics, was made in the early 2000s. In 2003, a licensing agreement was signed with the international company LyondellBasell. Initially, it was assumed that a unit with a capacity of 120 thousand tons per year would be built, but later it was decided to increase the volume to 180,000 tonnes. Less than 3 years after the acquisition of the technology, in September 2006, the new facility produced the first products.
By 2020, the range of polypropylene produced by TAIF already numbered 51 brands, including special and with improved performance characteristics, and the share of the Russian market occupied by Nizhnekamskneftekhim specifically for polypropylene was 13% (the second largest result among domestic producers).
It is noted that polypropylene is the only base polymer (except for LDL), and the production and consumption of which has been steadily growing for almost 10 years. Analysts suggest that by 2024, in Russia alone, PP production will reach 4.5 million tons per year, with the share of imports in consumption of only 8%. With the completion of construction and the launch of a new unit, TAIF Group will account for over 600,000 tonnes.
The Polypropylene-400 project is part of the large-scale Development Strategy of TAIF Group as a whole. The program is designed for the period up to 2030 and is estimated at over USD20 billion. Currently, projects worth approximately USD8 billion have already been implemented or are under implementation.
Partners who have already proven their reliability and high quality of work have high chances for continued cooperation. "There is a lot of work to be done, and we are interested in long-term partnership," said Albert Shigabutdinov. But he made it clear that it was subject to compliance with the agreements and fair financial policy.
The final decision on who will be entrusted with the implementation of the Polypropylene-400 project has not yet been made, said Airat Safin, general director of Nizhnekamskneftekhim.
According to the ScanPlast survey of MRC, Nizhnekamskneftekhim produced slightly less than 18.6 thousand tons of propylene polymers in April, which is in line with the previous month. In January - April, the total polymer output at the Nizhnekamsk enterprise reached 72,800 tonnes against 73,100 tonnes in 2020.
Earlier, SIBUR and TAIF started to merge petrochemical businesses. The process implies the creation of a company on the basis of SIBUR Holding PJSC, 15% in which will be received by the current shareholders of TAIF. In return, a controlling stake in a Tatarstan group consisting of petrochemical and energy enterprises will be transferred. According to the press service of SIBUR, the remaining stake in TAIF may be subsequently redeemed by the merged company.
Earlier it was noted that the joint company of SIBUR and TAIF will include the parent company of the Tatarstan group, its two chemical plants and an energy company. On the part of TAIF, the following companies will join the merged company: TGK-16 JSC, Kazanorgsintez PJSC, Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC and TAIF JSC. The oil complex of TAIF-NK PSC is not included in the deal with SIBUR.
PJSC "Nizhnekamskneftekhim" (NKNKH) is one of the largest Russian producers of petrochemical products. The production complex of the company includes ten factories of the main production and ten departments (railway transport, main ethylene pipelines, etc.). NKNKh produces over 120 types of chemical products, including synthetic rubber, polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, surfactants
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