Dmitry Konov, the chief executive of Sibur (Moscow; www.sibur.com), has resigned from his various committees in the petrochemical group with immediate effect. Officially, this step was justified by the fact that the EU and the UK had put his name on the sanctions list.

According to a statement from Sibur, the resignation is intended to strengthen the company’s “resilience” and pave the way for further growth.

Related: Messe Düsseldorf suspends business activities in Russia

It is also conceivable that Konov had to vacate his posts due to Sibur’s merger with compatriot group Taif (see Plasteurope.com of 17.06.2021). In the course of the merger, the decision-making powers of the Sibur board of directors are to go at least partially to the supervisory board, but above all to holding company Sibur LLC. In view of the international sanctions against Russia, questions are likely to focus on the global growth prospects of the merged Sibur-Taif conglomerate.

According to a Sibur spokesperson, one of the ongoing projects is Amur GCC – a joint venture with China’s Sinopec for a new cracker and polymers complex in the Amur region in the far east of Russia (see Plasteurope.com of 09.09.2020).

Sibur has been forging closer ties with China for some time. Since 17 December 2021, among others, Li Cheng Feng, director of the Chemicals department at Sinopec, and Wang Dan, executive vice president at the Silk Road Fund, have been elected to the board of directors by Sibur Holding shareholders.