OREANDA-NEWS. SIBUR-Khimprom (a subsidiary of SIBUR Holding) and Air Products have entered into an agreement to build a new air separation unit in Perm and to supply the facility with locally produced gases. The document was signed by Air Products CEO Robert Peter Mills and SIBUR-Khimprom CEO Gennady Shilov.

Under the deal, Air Products will supply industrial gas to SIBUR's Perm subsidiary as agreed and invest its own cash to build and operate the new air separation unit.

SIBUR-Khimprom will build relevant facilities and utilities, lease out the site and act as the buyer under fixed price off-take contracts.

This deal will help SIBUR-Khimprom cut down on industrial gas pricing, improve supply and focus on developing its new and current core operations.

The unit will comply with the most advanced usage, safety and efficiency standards. Its capacity will be c. 30,000 cu m of gaseous nitrogen per hour and c. 6,000 cu m of dry compressed air per hour, meeting the needs of SIBUR's Perm facility. The unit is set to come on stream in 2016. After the commissioning Air Products will supply industrial gases for SIBUR-Khimprom over the next 20 years.

This is the fourth SIBUR partnership for industrial gas production. Similar projects include facilities in Voronezh (in partnership with Air Products), Dzerzhinsk (with Linde Gas) and Tomsk (with Cryogenmash-Gas).

SIBUR is a uniquely positioned vertically integrated gas processing and petrochemicals company. SIBUR owns and operates Russia’s largest gas processing business in terms of associated petroleum gas processing volumes, and is a leader in the Russian petrochemicals industry.

As of 30 September 2014, SIBUR operated 26 production sites located all over Russia, had over 1,400 major customers engaged in the energy, automotive, construction, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), chemical and other industries in approximately 70 countries worldwide and employed over 26,000 personnel.

Air Products is a global supplier of atmospheric, technical and specialised gases, along with chemical materials and technologies. The company has been around for over 70 years.  Air Products operates more than 750 production facilities in over 50 countries worldwide – from Canada and Latin America to the Middle East, Europe and Asia. The company supplies industrial gases for oil and gas giants, like ExxonMobil, British Petroleum, Shell, Petro China, etc. Its total client?le exceeds 170 thousand. The company is famous for innovation and top industry standards.