Reliance Expects $700 Million in Sales From Venture With SIBUR

Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL), India’s biggest company by market value, expects sales of as much as $700 million from a venture with SIBUR of Russia in the first year, said Nikhil Meswani, a Reliance executive director.

The two companies will invest $450 million in a synthetic rubber facility at Jamnagar in the western state of Gujarat, which will start in mid-2014, according to a statement today. Reliance will hold 74.9 percent in Reliance SIBUR Elastomers Pvt., while SIBUR will have the remaining stake.

The venture will produce 100,000 metric tons of butyl rubber annually and will supply India’s automotive industry, which currently imports its requirement of 75,000 tons a year, Reliance said. The venture is open to exports, Meswani told reporters in Mumbai.

Reliance operates the world’s largest refining complex and associated chemical plants at Jamnagar. The partnership with SIBUR, Eastern Europe’s biggest petrochemicals producer, was first announced in May 2010.

Reliance climbed 3.1 percent, the most since Jan. 27, to 843.55 rupees at close in Mumbai, before the announcement. The stock has climbed 22 percent this year compared with a 19 percent increase in the benchmark Sensitive Index.