MOSCOW (MRC) - The Belarusian authorities strategically intend to expand petrochemical production in the face of increased Western sanctions against Belarusian oil products and the Naftan refinery, Interfax reports.
“Under the pressure of sanctions, the only possible strategy for maintaining the competitiveness and sustainable operation of our oil refinery is to diversify the existing product portfolio towards organizing the production of new petrochemical products. a propylene plant. The task is to build it in this five-year period, "said Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Yuri Nazarov.
According to the Deputy Prime Minister, for the project on Polimir "we are now at the stage of announcing a competition." “We hope that our Chinese partners will respond to this competition, because these technologies are well developed there,” said Yu. Nazarov.
As reported, on April 19, the US Treasury canceled the moratorium on sanctions against the Belneftekhim concern, its trade office in the United States and seven of its member enterprises, in particular the Naftan refinery, which had been in effect since October 2015.
On June 21, 2021, EU sanctions came into force against 78 Belarusian individuals and eight organizations due to the situation with human rights violations in Belarus. Thus, in total, 166 individuals and 15 organizations are now under individual sanctions imposed by the EU against Belarus. In particular, the sanctions apply to MAZ and BelAZ.
In parallel with the EU, the US, UK and Canada expanded the sanctions lists. On June 24, the EU Council adopted a decision to impose sectoral sanctions against Belarus, which, in particular, relate to the transit and export of Belarusian potash fertilizers, oil products, and restrict access to the EU financial market.
In March of this year, the Naftan refinery announced that it plans to attract significant loans for the implementation of the project for the construction of an ethylene-propylene unit (EP-200) at the Polymir petrochemical plant, which is part of its structure. As a result of the project implementation, the annual output of target products will total 300,000 tonnes, including 200 thousand tons of ethylene and 100,000 tonnes of propylene.
According to the ICIS-MRC Price Report, Polymir, a member of Naftan OJSC, on 1 October shut part of the production of low-pressure polyethylene (LDPE) for scheduled preventive maintenance. According to the company's clients, the Belarusian manufacturer has stopped the second stage of LDPE production (158th polyethylene) for scheduled repairs. Production downtime is planned within 30 days. And this is the second stop for repairs this year.
The Polymir plant (OJSC "Naftan"), the largest petrochemical enterprise in Belarus, produces a wide range of chemical products such as high-pressure polyethylene, acrylic fibers, organic synthesis products, hydrocarbon fractions, etc. Polymir was founded in 1968. In the process of creating a production and technical base, technologies were used by the largest foreign firms in England, Japan, Germany, Italy (Courtaulds, Asahi Chemical Co. Ltd, Kanematsu Gosho, SNIA BPD, etc.), as well as the development of research institutes and design institutes of the CIS countries. The annual design capacity of LDPE production is 130,000 tonnes.
MRC