Sibur rises in CEE/Russia Top 10

22 September 2008 15:35 [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--"Astounding" growth in the fortunes of Russia's players stands out in an analysis of the Central and East European and Russian chemicals sector, ICIS Chemical Business (ICB) said on Monday.

Strong economic growth, buoyed by oil and gas revenues, has allowed companies these companies to enjoy growth figures that old-world firms can only dream of.

The star performer in the regional analysis, which complements the ICIS Top 100 listing of the world's leading chemical players, is Sibur.

Its petrochemical division enjoyed 12% sales growth to $4.85bn in 2007, pushing it into the Top 100 at number 73, ICB said.

Other star performers in Russia include Nizhnekamskneftekhim, which earlier this year announced it would invest Rb6.7bn ($183m, €265m) this year in expanding and upgrading its polystyrene (PS), polyethylene (PE) and rubber production facilities.

When, and if, this and other Russian petrochemical projects will ever come to fruition is questionable, ICB said. Players have previously announced ambitious projects, which seldom get off the ground.

Getting through the necessary bureaucratic hurdles and obtaining finance seem to prevent many projects succeeding. The result is that the industry there is still in desperate need of modernisation, relying, as it does, on fairly ancient production facilities.

Escalating tension between Russia and the West will probably make the climate for investment there even less inviting. This may create new difficulties for Russian companies wishing to raise finance or partner with Western firms for engineering and technology.

You can download the top 100 table here.

Top 10 Russian/Central & Eastern Europe chemical companies ($m)

Company name	Sales '07	% Change to '06*	Operating profit '07	% Change to '06*	Net profit '07	% Change to '06*
PKN Orlen (chems/petchems)	6,741	1.2	537	46.6	-	-
Sibur	4,846	11.8	1,282	15.7	-	-
Salavatnefteorgsintez	3,960	40.0	-	-	1,630	50.0
MOL (petchems division)	2,300	12.0	236	75.0	-	-
Agrofert	2,870	3.0	-	-	-	-
Nizhnekamskneftekhim	2,400	24.0	287 (profit from sales)	20.0	1,670	23.0
Lukoil (petrochemicals)	2,300	26.0	-	-	-	-
Petkim	1,860	-2.0	96	-3.0	61	23.0
BorsodChem	1,510	19.0	-	-	-	-
Uralkali	1,190	87.0	-	-	-	-
Note: OMV is excluded because it includes petrochemicals with refining and marketing *In local currencies sources: company data, Accenture, CIREC

You can download a table of the top 10 Russia/CEE chemical companies here.

($1 = Rb25.28/€1 = Rb36.65)

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By: Will Beacham
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