Gazprom and Sibur resume talks on possible ethane project to supply additional feedstock to the Kazanorgsintez petrochemicals plant
Gazprom and SIBUR have resumed active discussions on a project to increase ethane supplies from Gazprom's Orenburg Helium Plant to the SIBUR holding's Kazanorgsintez petrochemical plant, SIBUR CEO Mikhail Karisalov said.
"The project to develop Kazanorgsintez by processing more ethane from Orenburg hasn't been shelved, it's not been cancelled, but it does need a lot of coordination, believe me. It's again in a fairly active development phase with Gazprom, the Orenburg government, the Tatarstan government and SIBUR," Karisalov said.
The Orenburg Helium Plant accounts for 80% of ethane production in Russia, Gazprom Pererabotka LLC says on its website.
Kazanorgsintez is the sole consumer of ethane from the Orenburg Helium Plant. Liquid ethane from the plant is pumped via the Orenburg-Kazan ethane pipeline to the Appakovsky ethane regasification station in the Almetyevsk district of Tatarstan, where it is converted to gas, fed into the Minnibayevo-Kazan pipeline and transported to Kazanorgsintez. Kazanorgsintez also receives ethane from Tatneft's Minnibayevo Gas Processing Plant via the Minnibayevo-Kazan pipeline.
As reported, ethane supplies stopped meeting Kazanorgsintez's needs in the mid-2000s after the company increased the capacity of its ethylene units from 400,000 to 640,000 tonnes of ethylene per year. Due to a shortage of ethane, production of which is limited in Russia, Kazanorgsintez had to reconfigure some of its capacities to process propane-based feedstock.
In September 2022, Gazprom Pererabotka's deputy CEO for prospective development Rustam Galiev said at the St. Petersburg International Gas Forum that the company planned to start pre-investment research in 2023 for constructing a new ethane production unit at the Orenburg Helium Plant using Kazakh gas in order to support Kazanorgsintez's capacity.
In February 2023, Kazanorgsintez CEO Airat Safin asked the head of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov to support the project to increase ethane production capacity at Gazprom's Orenburg Helium Plant. Kazanorgsintez could increase ethane processing by 40% if a new ethane unit with a capacity of up to 350,000 tonnes was built at the Orenburg Helium Plant, Safin said.
Kazanorgsintez needs 780,000 tonnes of ethane per year, but ethane deliveries to the chemical plant are limited by the throughput capacity of the ethane pipeline, and in 2022, supplies totaled 580,000 tonnes, Minnikhanov said in an interview with Interfax in April 2023.
The Orenburg Helium Plant was established in the late 1970s. The plant specializes in producing helium and other rare gases, as well as processing natural gas. The plant underwent a major reconstruction between 2004 and 2007.
Kazanorgsintez is one of the largest producers of polyethylene and the only producer of polycarbonates in Russia. It has been part of SIBUR since October 2021.
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