The 8th Russian Energy Week International Forum featured a session titled Oil and Gas Chemistry: An Era of New Opportunities in the Energy Transition. REW 2025 is being held with the support of the Russian Government, the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation, and the Government of Moscow. It has been organized by the Roscongress Foundation.
The discussion focused on the importance of developing the Russian petrochemical industry, with participants considering different ways to establish facilities for advanced petroleum refining, increase the added value of products, and enter new export markets in spite of existing sanctions and restrictions on energy exports.
First Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation Pavel Sorokin spoke of Russian efforts to develop the petrochemical industry as a part of its energy strategy.
“We’ve managed to achieve an almost fourfold increase in polymer production in recent years and believe there is potential to grow even more. It’s important for us to process valuable petroleum derivatives domestically and create value-added products. But this requires stability, our own technologies, and incentives to encourage investment,” Sorokin said.
Participants found themselves discussing the creation of petrochemical clusters in Eastern Siberia and the Far East to ensure the sustainability of demand at home, the continued development of infrastructure, and a strengthening of Russia’s position in Asian markets.
Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Mikhail Yurin expressed the view that it would be impossible to maintain the technological independence of the petrochemical industry without covering the full production cycle.
“We launched the New Materials and Chemistry national technological leadership project this year, examining value chains and identifying gaps we needed to fill. Projects of this nature would be impossible without the participation of business, science, and the government,” Yurin said.
Managing Director for Development and Innovation at Sibur Daria Borisova noted the way Russian businesses were adapting to new conditions as they continued to implement large-scale investment projects.
“The last 10–15 years have seen Sibur direct a steady stream of investment towards the development of petrochemicals on a very large scale, moving the market away from imports to exports. And we continue even now, with the plan to have invested a similar amount by 2027 in new projects like the Amur Gas Chemical Complex and polymer production in Tatarstan and Tobolsk. Next, we plan to develop medium- and small-tonnage chemicals and our own technologies to ensure the technological independence of the industry,” Borisova said.
Russian Energy Week is taking place in Moscow on 15–17 October.
The official REW website can be found at rusenergyweek.com. Keep up to date with all the latest event and industry news on REW’s official page on VKontakte.
Roscongress Foundation Telegram channel: t.me/roscongress.
