China's CNCEC joins Aeon methanol project in Russia
VOLGOGRAD. June 16 (Interfax) - China National Chemical Engineering Corporation (CNCEC) has joined the project of Russian billionaire Roman Trotsenko's Aeon Corporation to build a methanol plant in Volgograd with capacity of 1 million tonnes per year, Volgograd regional administration's press service reported.
The CEO of Aeon subsidiary GTM One, Bakhtiyor Kasimov and the managing director of CNCEC's international division, Bao Guangdong signed an engineering, procurement and construction contract at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. The signing was attended by Trotsenko, Aeon's chairman.
"Trotenko noted that the leading Chinese company in chemical construction has become the technology partner for the project. The representative of CNCEC stressed that the signing of the contract is very important not only for the two companies, but also for the two countries, Russia and China," the press service said.
The methanol plant, which is expected to cost over 80 billion rubles, will be the anchor project at the Khimprom special economic zone in Volgograd, the press service said.
Industrial Technologies LLC (Promtekh) acquired the production facilities of bankrupt Volgograd plant Khimprom for 103.2 million rubles in 2019. Since 2021, preparations have been underway there for the construction of a methanol plant with capacity to produce 1 million tonnes per year and the subsequent creation of a chemicals cluster. At that time the cost of the project was estimated more than 50 billion rubles.
Volgograd Polymer, the parent company of a number of legal entities set up for specific projects within the chemicals cluster, became the flagship company of the project, while GTM One became the management company for the whole cluster.
Trotsenko said in April 2019 that the methanol plant was scheduled to open in 2023.
The government approved the establishment of a special economic zone at Khimprom in October 2022. There are plans to build plants in the zone to produce methanol, bioproteins, crop protection chemicals and acetic acid, and create more than 800 jobs.
Volgograd Polymer LLC owns 95% of Industrial Technologies LLC, according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. Trotsenko and Andrei Donskikh each own 48.75% stakes in Volgograd Polymer and GTM One, and Alexander Shvedov owns the other 2.5%.