MOSCOW—Sibur has completed construction of its halobutyl rubber production facility at Reliance Industries' petrochemicals site in Jamnagar, India.
The facility will produce 60,000 metric tons per year. Production batches are "expected soon," Sibur said in a Feb. 11 statement regarding the group's 2020 financial results.
The start-up of the halogenation unit marks a significant step forward for Sibur's butyl rubber joint venture with Reliance—the majority partner with a 74.9 percent stake.
The partners started up a 120,000-ton-per-year rubber plant about a year ago. It is based on proprietary Sibur technology, which is being licensed to the JV.
The butyl rubber facility reached 100 percent capacity utilization and produced more than 60,000 tons in 2020, according to Sibur's latest report.
The market share of butyl rubber produced at the new facility accounts for 20 percent of global butyl rubber output and 70 percent of the Indian market, Sibur said.
Product also is exported to countries such as China, South Korea, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Europe, the U.S. and Brazil.
In April 2020, Sibur added a new 50,000-ton-per-year unit to its thermoplastic elastomers facility in Voronezh.
Output from the now 135,000-ton-per-year styrenic block-copolymer TPE facility is "equivalent to 5 percent of global TPE production capacity," the Russian group's report said.
