MUMBAI, India (Feb. 23, 2012)—Russia's Sibur L.L.C. and India's Reliance Industries Ltd. have formed a joint venture to build a butyl rubber plant in Jamnagar, India.
The JV will be called Reliance Sibur Elastomers Pvt. Ltd. and will have capacity to produce 100,000 metric tons of butyl a year. The factory will be the first to produce butyl rubber in India and will become the fourth largest supplier of the material globally, according to the company.
Reliance will own 74.9 percent of the joint firm and Sibur 25.1 percent. The JV will invest $450 million to construct the facility, which is expected to open in mid-2014.
Reliance said the butyl supplier will focus on demand from the Indian automotive industry of more than 75,000 tons a year for butyl, which is currently supplied by imports.
Reliance and Sibur also signed a technology license agreement so the JV can use Sibur's proprietary butyl rubber production technology at the facility. Sibur will develop basic engineering design for the plant and also train the JV's personnel at Sibur's production site in Togliatti, Russia.