OREANDA-NEWS. May 06, 2013. Rosneft and Mitsui signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly develop FEPCO project - one of the largest petrochemical projects globally. The MoU was signed by Rosneft President and Chairman of the Management Board Igor Sechin and by Representative Director, Senior Executive Managing Officer, and Member of the Board of Directors of Mitsui & Co., Ltd Shintaro Ambe in the presence of the Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe.

The Far East Petrochemical Company (“FEPCO”), a subsidiary of Rosneft, is developing the project. Processing capacity of the petrochemical complex as part of the project is planned at 3.4 million tonnes of hydrocarbon feedstock per year (predominantly naphtha). The capacity of ethylene and propylene production unit is planned at 2 million tonnes per year. The complex is expected to be launched in 2017.

As part of the Memorandum, the parties plan cooperation in engineering design in accordance with international best practices. Following the results of this cooperation final investment decision on FEPCO construction will be made.

Commenting on the signing, Igor Sechin said: “We are glad to join efforts with one of the leading Japanese companies to develop the largest petrochemical complex in the Far East. Implementation of the project in cooperation with Mitsui will enable us to optimize the petrochemical complex and use the best global practices of constructing plants of similar scale. Successful implementation of the project will facilitate development of technology intensive production and establishment of a production cluster in the Far East”.