SIBUR Tobolsk partially shuts PP production on technical issues

MOSCOW (MRC)–SIBUR Tobolsk, Russia’s largest polypropylene (PP) producer, has shut down some of its production capacities because of technical issues, according to ICIS-MRC’s Price report.

The outage was unscheduled and the exact dates of the resumption of production have not been announced.

The plant’s customers said SIBUR Tobolsk took off-stream one of its two polymerisation lines last weekend because of technical issues.

However, shipments of material to customers continued from the Tobolsk and other company’s sites

The company’s representatives also confirmed the unplanned shutdown but the exact reasons for the outage and its duration have not been announced yet.

The plant’s annual production capacity is 500,000 tonnes.

As reported earlier, two more Russian producers plan to shut their production capacities for maintenance in September: Stavrolen (for two months from 6 September) and Ufaorgsintez (for 12 days in mid-September).

The unscheduled outage of PP production in Tobolsk is critical for the Russian market.

Strong seasonal demand already led to a certain shortage of polymer in the domestic market in August, which began to put pressure on prices.

SIBUR Tobolsk produced 40,300 tonnes in July, compared to 44,000 tonnes in June. Overall, the company’s PP production reached 304,800 tonnes in January-July 2017, up by 25% year on year.

Such a major increase in output was caused by the absence of the plant’s shutdown for scheduled maintenance this year.

MRC, a partner of ICIS, produces polymers news and pricing reports from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.