Gases and engineering group Linde has signed a contract with Russian petrochemical giant Sibur to manage the gas supply infrastructure at Sibur's Dzerzhinsk site in the Nizhny Novgorod region. As part of the deal, Linde will invest €70 million in two new air separation plants (ASUs), scheduled to go on stream at the end of 2015.

In an initial step, Linde will assume responsibility for Sibur's four ASUs in Dzerzhinsk, modernizing them to improve energy efficiency. In a second step, the German group's engineering division will build the two new ASUs, which together will have capacity to produce around 30,000 normal cubic metres of gaseous oxygen per hour (Nm3/h). The plants will supply the oxygen, nitrogen and compressed air required for Sibur's local ethylene oxide and glycols plants.

The facilities owned and operated by Linde will also supply air gases through an extended pipeline network to the Russian group's customers at the Dzerzhinsk chemicals hub and also deliver liquid oxygen, nitrogen and argon to the regional market in Nizhny Novgorod and beyond.

"We are delighted to build further on our long-standing, successful relationship with Sibur through this new project," said Linde managing board member Aldo Belloni. The group is currently engaged in two other projects with Sibur at Tobolsk in Western Siberia, where it last year won a licensing and Front End Engineering Design (FEED) contract for one of the world's largest ethylene plants. Linde also built a 500,000 t/y a polypropylene plant at the site. The facility is currently being commissioned.

The deal will enhance the operational efficiency of Sibur's ethylene oxide and glycols plants in Dzerzhinsk and enable it to further strengthen its leading positions in Russia and CIS markets, said Valery Andosov, director for strategy in Sibur's Plastics and Organic Synthesis division. By outsourcing industrial gas supply, he Russian partner will be able to focus on developing its core operations," added Sergey Merzlyakov, head of the Plastics and Organic Synthesis business unit.