Growth through petrochemical projects - how will Russia add value to upstream projects in the East?

The Russian Far East and East Siberia, a combined area larger than Canada, are full of natural resources. We forecast annual output increasing to 1.7 million b/d of oil and 6.7 bcfd of gas by 2028. This should help the Russian government with its strategic objective of growing the country’s economy through the region. At the same time, Russia wants to become a major global petrochemical player and improve its value chain. Huge gas resources and proximity to Asian markets provide a catalyst for large petrochemical projects such as Amur GCC (SIBUR), FEPCO (Rosneft) and Irkutsk Oil Company polymer plant. More than US$20 billion could be spent on the three projects and, by 2027, more than 6.5 million tonnes of petrochemical products could be exported annually from them. What risks and challenges are there? Is there a market for Russian exports?