The management of Sibur-Neftekhim announced back in 2002 that it was considering a project to build its own power unit – a gas turbine power plant at Caprolactam worth $36 million. In 2003, Sibur even began negotiations with the American Export-Import Bank about providing these funds. At the end of 2005, the company was thinking about acquiring the Igumnovskaya TPP (part of the Nizhny Novgorod Generating Company (NGK)) and reconstructing it. However, NGK itself decided to reconstruct the TPP, including it in the investment program of TGK-6 in April 2006. In November 2005, the media, citing the head of the regional energy commission, Sergei Shalayev, reported that power engineers were planning to close the Igumnovskaya TPP, since the electricity it generated had become twice as expensive as at other stations.

And yesterday, Igor Samarin, the chief power engineer at Sibur-Neftekhim, told Vedomosti that the investment committee of Sibur-Holding approved the project for the construction of a power boiler house to supply the Ethylene Oxide and Glycol Plant in Dzerzhinsk with process steam. “In 2002–2003, we announced a combined heat and power plant, but a lot has changed since then: Nizhnovenergo was reformed, and we created our own automated system for commercial accounting of energy resources,” Samarin explained. The declared capacity of the boiler house is 160 tons of steam of energy parameters per hour. Construction of the boiler house will begin in 2007 and will last 18–24 months, entirely at the expense of the parent company, Sibur. The expected investment volume is 480 million rubles, and the payback period for the project is about 2.5 years from the date of commissioning. Due to the continuity of petrochemical production, the boiler house will be loaded 12 months a year and will not experience a seasonal decline in the summer, Samarin emphasized. The cost of heat from its own boiler house will be 1.8-1.9 times lower than the price at which heat is currently purchased, he added. He did not disclose the current costs of Sibur-Neftekhim for the purchase of heat from the Dzerzhinskaya TPP, saying only that 50% of energy costs are spent on heat.

"The project does not disrupt the energy supply system of the Dzerzhinsk industrial hub - we have reached an understanding with NGK and TGK-6," Samarin assures. "Our enterprises will continue to receive electricity from NGK, from the Dzerzhinskaya TPP, and will continue to supply condensate and river water to the Igumnovskaya TPP." He does not rule out that the TPP reconstruction plan, adopted by TGK-6 as part of its development strategy, will have to be adjusted, since Sibur may place a new large PVC production facility in Dzerzhinsk.

The press service of TGK-6, which manages the oil and gas company, reported that a joint working group of the energy company and Sibur-Neftekhim is currently determining the energy supply mode for Kaprolaktam and the Ethylene Oxide and Glycol Plant.

Petrochemistry is one of the most energy-intensive industries, so building its own power plants for this industry is justified, says Denis Borisov, an analyst at IFC Solid. According to him, heat accounts for 10-12% of the cost of petrochemical products. And Evgeny Maksimov, chief engineer of the Zavolzhsky Motor Plant (ZMZ), believes that if there is a powerful centralized boiler house and short communications near the enterprise, it is more profitable to purchase heat from outside. But with a shortage of capacity and low reliability of communications, building its own power plants is inevitable. In particular, says Maksimov, ZMZ has two boiler houses - one for steam production and one for heating. And the plant is in no hurry to launch a backup steam turbine to generate electricity - it is easier to purchase electricity from outside.

Sibur-Neftekhim to let off steam