PJSC Sibur Holding has let a contract to Linde PLC to provide technology for the cracker at its long-planned Amur gas chemical complex (GCC), an integrated 1.5 million-tonnes/year polyethylene and polypropylene production complex to be built near Svobodny in Russia’s far-east Amur region (OGJ Online, Sept. 14, 2015).
As part of the contract awarded under a consortium with Sibur subsidiary and project contractor NIPIgazpererabotka (Nipigaz), Linde will deliver engineering, procurement, and site services based on its proprietary technology for the GCC’s cracker, Linde said on Feb. 7.
The service provider disclosed neither a value of the contract nor further details regarding the specific technology it will provide for the project.
Sibur’s GCC will receive LPG and ethane fraction feedstock under a long-term contract from PJSC Gazprom subsidiary OOO Gazprom Pererabotka Blagoveshchensk's (GPB) nearby 42 billion-cu m/year grassroots Amur natural gas processing plant (GPP) now under construction (OGJ Online, Dec. 26, 2019).
Sibur expects a proposed increase in the overall amount of ethane fraction and LPG feedstock supplies of up to 3.5 million tpy over time from GPB’s GPP to the Amur GCC will allow the complex to expand design capacities at the site from an initial 1.5 million tpy of polyethylene to about 2.3 million tpy of polyethylene and 400,000 tpy of polypropylene (OGJ Online, Oct. 4, 2019).
Timelines
About 54% completed as of late 2019, GPB’s GPP includes six production lines, with the first two lines slated for commissioning in 2021 and remaining lines to be consecutively put in operation before yearend 2024. GPP is scheduled to reach full operational capacity by 2025, Gazprom said.
While Sibur has completed preliminary design development and approved configuration as well as capacities of the Amur GCC’s proposed units, its decision to move forward with project implementation was due in second-half 2019 pending completion of front-end engineering design (FEED) and clearance of applicable corporate procedures, according to Sibur’s website.
Sibur has yet to confirm either completion of FEED for the Amur GCC or its final approval for implementation of the project.