OREANDA-NEWS. June 08, 2012. Dmitry Konov, CEO of Russian petrochemical company SIBUR, and Wang Tianpu, President of China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec Corp.), have signed a Cooperation Agreement during the state visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to China.

The delegation of SIBUR was also represented by Kirill Shamalov, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board, and Mikhail Gordin, Managing Director.

The agreement sets the framework for two cooperation projects to establish a joint venture, manufacturing nitrile rubber (NBR) and isoprene rubber (IR) in the Shanghai area of China. The Joint venture will use the patents and technologies of SIBUR. The NBR and IR plants are expected to have an annual capacity of 50,000 mt each, subject to finalisation based on the feasibility study. The cooperation will be a two-stage process, with the NBR launch followed by the IR plant.

The feasibility study for the NBR project has been successfully completed and will shortly be filed with local regulators. For the IR project, feasibility study is about to begin.

On 28 April 2012, the parties have signed a Cooperation Agreement allowing them to form a joint venture manufacturing nitrile rubber (NBR) in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. The new JV will boost the existing NBR capacity of the Krasnoyarsk rubber plant from 41,000 to 56,000 tonnes per year.