The ceremonial meeting took place at the polyolefins plant of Nizhnekamskneftekhim Inc. on February 24 on the occasion of commissioning of polyethylene production plant.

The participants of the ceremonial plant start-up were: M. Shaimiev, the President of the Republic of Tatarstan , A. Shigabutdinov, chairman of the board of directors, Nizhnekamskneftekhim Inc., general director of TAIF Inc., V. Busygin, general director of Nizhnekamskneftekhim Inc., A. Metshin, head of Nizhnekamsk municipal region, heads of ministries and branches.

During his speech addressed to the workers the RT President M. Shaimiev emphasized: “This should be the landmark event because despite the global crisis you have managed to construct and start a new production facility within the shortest time”.

The President also noted that this event is of particular significance not only for the economy of Nizhnekamskneftekhim Inc. but also for the town and the Republic as a whole. Mr. Shaimiev expressed his gratitude to the employees saying that while the whole world debates the problems, the personnel of the company performs creative work and constructs new production facilities.

Nizhnekamsk production plant is intended for manufacture of granular polyethylene of black and natural colors, and certain grades have never been produced in the Russian Federation before. The implemented polymerization system has no analogy in domestic practice.

This plant is unique not only in terms of the product mix but also from the point of view of profitability: the share of power generation sector in the cost price of Nizhnekamsk polyethylene constitutes only 3.5%. Therefore, proceeding from the ratio of the cost price and quality, Nizhnekamsk polyethylene could successfully compete with foreign equivalent products in the Russian market.

The project makes provision for production of the following types of plastics:

· linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), density 0.915-0.935 g/cm3;

· medium-density polyethylene (MDPE), density 0.925-0.940 g/cm3;

· high-density polyethylene (HDPE) with low molecular weight distribution, density 0.940-0.965 g/cm3;

· high-density polyethylene (HDPE) with wide molecular weight distribution, density 0.940-0.965 g/cm3.

The President of Tatarstan and his party also visited the plants for production of methyl-tert-butyl ether and tertiary amine ether at TAIF-NK, the polystyrene production line number 3 of Nizhnekamskneftekhim Inc. and the production unit of polymeric items for automobile industry of Tatlesstroy being part of Nizhnekamsk industrial district

In 2004 it was the first time in Russia that they began talking about establishment of large-scale industrial districts taking the example of Italy . Those innovations have reached the Republic of Tatarstan too. As a result, in May 2005 the Association “Nizhnekamsk industrial district” was formed on the initiative of Nizhnekamskneftekhim Inc. and under the auspices of the RT Cabinet of Ministers. This was one of the first and successful attempts to organize the interaction of small and large businesses both in Tatarstan and in Russia as a whole. Nizhnekamskneftekhim Inc. acted as the anchor company being the major supplier of feedstock for polymer processing.

Within a short period of time the company has aggregated around itself more than 50 plants of small and medium business and implemented over 30 attractive projects.

In this context the experience of Tatlesstroy is rather indicative. From 2006 the company began to master the new area of business: polymer processing. Today the production range includes the polymeric container “Polibox” for transportation and storage of various types of products, including rubber; honeycomb polymeric sheet, polymeric pallets and container systems for automobile and machine-building industry. While in 2007 the company processed 5 thousand tons of Nizhnekamskneftekhim polymers, the plan is to bring this figure to 18 thousand tons this year. Implementation of this project is another step towards handling the task, that was once assigned by the RT government, that called for processing in Tatarstan of not less than 30% of locally produced polymers in the short-term outlook.

In spite of the fact that there are many options of processing of polymers into the finished products, still today the most advanced one is under consideration – use of finished products in the automobile industry. Currently several companies of Nizhnekamsk industrial district operate successfully in this direction. For example, Kamplast arranged the manufacture of bumpers for motor cars, Khiton-plast-2 supplies a wide range of polymeric components to the conveyors of automobile plants, Nizhnekamsk low-voltage wire production unit mastered the manufacture of low-voltage wires for automobile industry.