Reliance Industries and Sibur start work in Gujarat on the project size of 450 million dollars

Reliance Industries and its Russian partner Sibur have begun construction on a $450 million butyl rubber plant at Jamnagar in Gujarat.


RILBSE 0.69 % and Russian rubber giant Sibur, Eastern Europe's largest maker of petrochemicals, had in February last year formed a a joint venture company called Reliance Sibur Elastomers Pvt Ltd with a view to become the fourth largest global supplier of butyl rubber - an input for tyres.

"Reliance Sibur Elastomers Pvt Ltd (RSEPL) today began construction of their new butyl rubber plant, in Jamnagar," the two firms said in a joint statement here.

The joint venture will manufacture 100,000 tonnes of butyl rubber per year to meet demand for synthetic rubber from the Indian automotive industry, whose current requirement for more than 75,000 tonnes per year is satisfied by imports.

RIL owns 74.9 per cent in the JV, while SIBUR has the remaining 25.1 per cent stake.

"When commissioned in 2015, the new plant will be India's only manufacturer of butyl rubber and the JV will be amongst the world's top five manufacturers of butyl rubber," the statement said.

RIL and Sibur signed a technology licence agreement facilitating use of Russian firm's proprietary butyl rubber production technology at the new facility. The Mukesh Ambani-run firm will supply monomer and provide the JV with world-class infrastructure and utilities.