Russia needs to supply own petrochemical products - Putin
TOBOLSK. Oct 15 (Interfax) - President Vladimir Putin has called for establishing a national market for petrochemical products in Russia.
Putin, at a meeting in Tobolsk on the development of the petrochemicals sector, said it was unfortunate that Russia was still "forced to cover a deficit for a whole range of items with imports."
"Of course, import substitution on its own is not a panacea for everything. But where this is possible, I particularly have in mind our unique resource base, of course we need to strive for this," Putin said. He said "we need to become the masters on our own market."
He said that "while we're buying these products abroad, this is missed profit, and lost taxes and jobs not created." Russia needs to "reduce domestic petrochemical companies' lag behind global leaders, in terms of technologies, costs and the level of training of workers," Putin said.
He again said it was necessary to more actively process associated petroleum gas from oil fields, recalling that in 2012 Russia produced 71.8 billion cubic meters of APG, but 17.1 bcm or 23% was flared.
"Naturally, we can't run a separate pipe to supply feedstock to every plant. This is why it's important to establish efficient logistical, transport systems that are convenient for all market players," Putin said.
He also said incentives are needed for companies to process feedstock in Russia rather than ship it abroad. "We need to produce highly processed and value added products ourselves, both for the domestic market and for export," Putin said.
