SIBUR to soon decide on projects for processing ethylene from NKNK, hopes for more ethane from Gazprom
VLADIVOSTOK. Sept 15 (Interfax) - SIBUR plans to select a project early next year for processing ethylene that will come from the EP-600 unit being built at Nizhnekamskneftekhim (NKNK) , the Russian petrochemical group's executive director Pavel Lyakhovich said in an interview with Interfax.
"Of the 600,000 tonnes of ethylene, about 70% will go toward further utilizing existing capacity, capacity that is being expanded and already under construction. We are building a unit to produce hexene [that will use] about another 55,000 tonnes of ethylene. We will launch it in 2024. And we are now overhauling one of three reactors at Kazanorgsintez . We began this year and by the end of this year we'll finish the reconstruction of the third reactor. Another 150,000 tonnes of ethylene will be directed there," Lyakhovich said.
"We will make a decision on the remaining 30% at the beginning of next year depending on the best efficiency and demand on the market, foremost Russian," he said.
He also said there was progress in negotiations with gas giant Gazprom on increasing ethane supplies from the Orenburg Gas Processing Plant.
"For a time there was not a very active discussion of the project with Gazprom, but now we are seeing a good dynamic. The parties are actively discussing the project and I think that we will be able to get increased amounts of ethane from Orenburg. In order to carry out the project, Gazprom needs to make certain changes on its side and we [do so] at Kazanorgsintez in order to receive the additional amounts. But one must also not forget about the ethane pipeline, the link between our plants," Lyakhovich said.
He also said that SIBUR is considering setting up its own production of catalysts and proposes to "work in two directions - independently and with partners."
"There are Russian producers who already produce catalysts for us with whom we share our scientific know-how and [to whom we] provide a certain guarantee that we will buy their products. But we are already looking at our own project to make catalysts. I think that we will be able to talk about this officially at the beginning of 2024," Lyakhovich said.
The company will soon report on a possible project to produce n-Butyllithium, he said.
The EP-600 unit being built at NKNK can process 1.8 million tonnes of straight-run gasoline (naphtha) into ethylene, propylene, butadiene and benzene per year. These products will primarily serve as feedstock for existing and future production facilities at NKNK and Kazanorgsintez. The new unit is expected to be completed and commissioned in the second half of 2024.