History

Thanks to its new competencies and industry leadership, the company was able to start on ZapSibNeftekhim investment project, the largest of its kind not only for SIBUR, but for the entire Russian petrochemical industry. The project investments are estimated at USD 9.5 bn, with the share of domestic contractors and suppliers accounting for at least RUB 220 bn.

ZapSibNeftekhim to be launched on the basis of Tobolsk Production Site in 2020, will become Russia's largest petrochemical complex with an annual capacity 1.5 mtpa of ethylene and 2 mtpa of polymers. It will allow SIBUR to almost double polymer production capacities in Russia.

SIBUR is also considering the construction of a petrochemical facility in the Amur Region in Russia's Far East after 2023–2024.

These facilities currently rank among the Top 5 largest global petrochemical projects; they will help boost the export potential of the Russian petrochemical industry and bolster SIBUR’s position as a major regional player in the international market.

In its priority area of basic polymer production, SIBUR is focusing on global scale projects, whereas in rubber business, it seeks partnerships with the leading producers in the key developing sales markets – China and India.

In 2013, SIBUR and China's Sinopec entered into a JV using the capacities of Krasnoyarsk Synthetic Rubbers Plant (KZSK), which exports a significant share of its products to China. A JV between SIBUR and Reliance Industries Ltd became a unique project for both the company and the entire Russian petrochemical industry. The JV is building a 120 ktpa butyl rubber plant in India, which will make use of SIBUR’s proprietary technologies.

The company’s project, construction and engineering competencies and expertise have become strong enough to capitalise on them by offering services to other market participants. SIBUR's EPC expertise is concentrated in NIPIgaspererabotka, which is currently a leading Russian centre for facility design, supply, logistics and construction engaged in the largest oil and gas and petrochemical projects.

SIBUR is also hard at work developing proprietary technologies. Its corporate R&D Centre NIOST conducts active research looking for new solutions. SIBUR’s R&D activities have broken even and are yielding increasingly high profits.

The new SIBUR holds not just local, but global investor appeal, with the company’s margins reaching those of international leaders.

In 2015, the company welcomed its first foreign investor after a deal was closed in December to make Sinopec SIBUR's strategic investor with a stake of 10%. In 2016, SIBUR signed an agreement to sell a 10% stake to China’s Silk Road Fund.

On 4 October 2021, SIBUR and TAIF completed the combination of their assets to create Russia’s largest petrochemical company and one of the leading players globally.

After Alexander Dyukov moved on to Gazprom Neft, Dmitry Konov took over as head of the management team.

SIBUR launched its large-scale investment programme, focusing on ramping up gas processing to strengthen the company's feedstock base. The construction and expansion of gas processing plants, compressor stations, the pipeline network, and gas fractionation facilities contributed to a 3x growth of SIBUR's associated petroleum gas processing capacities.

As it became more experienced in building new facilities and enjoyed additional revenues from the sale of hydrocarbon feedstock, the company was able to start building polymer production plants as part of the import substitution and export promotion initiatives.

In 2010–2011, Leonid Mikhelson, a Russian entrepreneur, acquired a controlling stake in the group. This helped unlock additional opportunities to implement unprecedentedly large-scale investment projects and transform SIBUR into the emerging markets’ fastest-growing petrochemical company. In 2013, a flagship polypropylene production facility was constructed in Tobolsk, with its margins significantly exceeding the industry average due to its strategic location and infrastructure. The experience in building and launching a modern global-scale petrochemical plant laid a solid foundation for further work of scaling up high-margin production operations.

The launch of Russia's largest industrial facilities, upgrade of the existing plants and organisational optimisation have elevated the company to new competitive heights. 

In 2003, Alexander Dyukov was appointed CEO of SIBUR. He formed the core of a new management team by uniting highly experienced production professionals with new generation managers. The new management team helped stabilise SIBUR's position and articulated strategic principles for its further development, such as:

– cementing long-term access to feedstock, and offering effective solutions for handling oil and gas by-products, which required significant investments in gas processing capacities;

– monetising feedstock access by building new capacities for feedstock transportation and advanced processing, which required new transportation infrastructure and large state-of-the-art facilities to produce polymers for a wide range of industries from construction to medicine;

– pursuing operational excellence, reducing risks and creating a more powerful and sustainable business.

The financial muscle of Gazprom and availability of basic petrochemical feedstock paved the way for industry consolidation around SIBUR. In 1998–1999, the company acquired over 60 assets in the petrochemical and related industries, many of which required financial rehabilitation. Yet, the decline in the global petrochemical industry led to higher debt burden, with margins falling into negative territory. On this backdrop, SIBUR found itself facing a management and financial crisis in the early 2000s. As part of the anti-crisis programme, Gazprom initiated changes to the company’s structure in 2002. 

The foundation of SIBUR in 1995 became the first step in re-establishing broken relations and reviving the petrochemical industry after the Soviet Union’s collapse. Managed by Gazprom, the company started to evolve into a powerful national player in the deep hydrocarbon conversion market.