Construction Begins on RSEPL Butyl Rubber Plant

Jamnagar (India),- - Reliance Sibur Elastomers Private Limited (RSEPL), a joint venture between Reliance Industries Limited and SIBUR today began construction of their new butyl rubber plant, in Jamnagar.

The ceremony was attended by SIBUR’s CEO, Dmitry Konov; Mr. Alexy V Novikov, Consul General; Mr. Nikhil Meswani, Executive Director of Reliance and senior members of SIBUR, Reliance, and public officials.

Commenting on the event, Mr. Nikhil Meswani, Executive Director, RIL, said “Reliance is excited to join a select group of global Butyl Rubber producers. India, as a fast emerging auto hub, is a vast market for these products. We look forward to serving this market.”

Dmitry Konov commented, “India is one of the most attractive petrochemicals markets right now due to the significant investment in infrastructure which has spurred demand.

SIBUR’s technologies together with Reliance’s infrastructure and resources will help to establish a facility that will meet the demand for butyl rubber in Asian market.”

When commissioned in 2015, the new plant will be India’s only manufacturer of butyl rubber and the JV will be amongst the world’s top five manufacturers of butyl rubber.

RIL and SIBUR signed a technology licence agreement facilitating use of SIBUR’s proprietary butyl rubber production technology at the new facility. The licensing package includes development of a Basic Engineering Package (BEP) and full-time provision of highly-experienced technical personnel on both project and operational stages. RIL will supply monomer and provide the JV with world-class infrastructure and utilities.

The project is progressing as per the original schedule. The BEP has already been completed in Nov 2012, and Detailed Engineering is underway. At present, RSEPL is placing orders for long-lead equipment. When complete, the Jamnagar plant will have the capacity to produce 100,000 tonnes annually.

Reliance has already started market seeding butyl rubber from SIBUR in India. The response is very encouraging.


Background Information

Reliance Sibur Elastomers Private Limited is a JV formed between SIBUR and Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) in February 2012 to produce 100,000 tonnes of butyl rubber per year at Reliance’s integrated petrochemical site in Jamnagar, India. Reliance Industries Limited owns 74.9% of the JV and SIBUR 25.1%.

SIBUR is a uniquely positioned gas processing and petrochemicals company with a business model focused on the integrated operation of its two core segments. The Group owns and operates Russia’s largest gas processing business in terms of associated petroleum gas processing volumes, according to IHS CERA and is a leader in the Russian petrochemicals industry. The Group has two operating and reportable segments: feedstock and energy and petrochemicals. The Group’s feedstock and energy segment comprises (i) gathering and processing of associated petroleum gas (APG) that the Group purchases from major Russian oil companies, (ii) transportation, fractionation and other processing of natural gas liquids (NGLs) that the Group produces internally or purchases from major Russian oil and gas companies, and (iii) marketing and sales of energy products, such as natural gas, liquefied petroleum gases (LPG), naphtha, raw NGL, methyl tertiary butyl ether and other fuels and fuel additives. The Group sells these energy products on the Russian and international markets and uses some of them as feedstock for its petrochemicals segment, which processes them into various petrochemicals, including basic polymers, synthetic rubbers, plastics and products of organic synthesis, as well as intermediates and other chemicals.

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is India’s largest private sector company on all major financial parameters with a turnover of INR 339,792 crore (US$ 66.8 billion), cash profit of INR 31,994 crore (US$ 6.3 billion) and net profit of INR 20,040 crore (US$ 3.9 billion) as of March 31, 2012.

RIL is the first private sector company from India to feature in Fortune’s Global 500 list of ’World’s Largest Corporations’ and ‘World’s Top 100 companies’, ranking 99th in terms of revenues and 130th in terms of profits in 2012. RIL ranks 68th in the Financial Times’ FT Global 500 list of the world’s largest companies. RIL is ranked amongst the ’50 Most Innovative Companies - 2010’ in the World in a survey conducted by the US financial publication - Business Week in collaboration with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In 2010, BCG also ranked RIL as the second highest ‘Sustainable Value Creators’ for creating the most shareholder value over the decade in the world.