After completing the front-end engineering and design contracts, Russian petrochemical giant Sibur said it is pressing ahead with previously announced plans for a $9.5 billion olefins and polyolefins complex at Tobolsk.

News about the project originally announced in 2012, had gone quiet, leading some to speculate that it might not be realized as initially planned.

The complex operating under the name ZapSibNeftekhim will include a steam cracker built by German engineering group Linde with capacity to produce 1.5 million t/y of ethylene, in addition to several polyethylene plants with a total capacity of 1.5 million t/y, and a 500,000 t/y polypropylene facility.

The PE plants, which earlier reports said would include two 350,000 t/y HDPE lines and two 400,000 t/y LLDPE/HDPE swing lines, will use Ineos technology. For the PP plants, the Russian group has secured a license from LyondellBasell.

Sibur said the entire complex will be completed in five to five-and-a-half years.

To accommodate the mammoth project, the group's board of directors is increasing its capital spending budget. For 2014, some $1.9 billion is planned to be spent.

CEO Dmitry Konov said: "Sibur has a strong financial position. Over recent years, the company has delivered on ambitious projects to expand its gas processing and fractionation capacity, improve transport infrastructure reliability and build its large polymer production capacities, providing the basis for a smooth transition into the next stage of the project."

NIPIgazpererabotka, Russia's leading engineering provider for gas processing, will handle design of infrastructure and off-site facilities.