Sibur (Moscow; www.sibur.ru) plans to export 1 m t of polyolefins to China and Turkey in 2023, 67% more than in the previous year, as board member Pavel Lyachovich disclosed during an industry conference in Moscow.

Additional quantities are redirected from the European market, which has been closed for the company since mid-2022. Sibur also expects a growth in polymer production this year versus 2022, Lyachovich added without providing concrete figures.

In fact, the company has not unveiled any details on its production performance in 2022. Board member Sergey Komyishan told the state press that despite a lack of imported technologies and some critical components, Sibur managed to avoid a slump in output and keep the production level “as close as possible to the targeted figures.”

Sibur CEO Oleg Makarov noted that the company needs to divert exports to Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean, as European clients have almost completely abandoned Russian petrochemical products.

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The reorientation to new markets came with logistical difficulties that nearly halved margins on export sales last year. Makarov added that Sibur is maintaining its export infrastructure in the European direction, hoping to one day return to the market with, for example, liquefied hydrocarbon gases.

In other news, Sibur subsidiary Kazanorgsintez is in the process of preparing a lawsuit against Siemens Energy (Munich; www.siemens-energy.com), demanding it return part of the RUB 9.1 bn (EUR 110 m) advance paid under the contract for the construction of a 250-megawatt combined cycle power plant in Kazan, Russia. As a part of the lawsuit, Kazanorgsintez demands that Siemens Energy’s shares in local companies, bank accounts, and other property be frozen.

Under the agreement, Siemens Energy signed up to build the combined cycle power plant by March 2023. In July 2022, however, the German company backed out of the project, citing EU sanctions. As a result, all work on the facility has reportedly been halted.

In early March this year, Sibur reported it had finalised the terms of the takeover of a 50% stake in Russian PVC producer RusVinyl from its joint venture partner Solvay for EUR 430 mn. The deal opens up additional opportunities for Sibur in terms of developing and improving the efficiency of interconnected industries, a spokesperson for Sibur told Russian newspaper Kommersant.