Rosneft, LLC (Moscow, Russia; www.rosneft.com), Pirelli Tyre Russia and Oil Techno have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with regard to establishing a styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) production joint venture (JV) in Armenia. The synthetic rubber JV will focus especially on research-and-development endeavors.
The realization of the project will help implement new technologies in Armenia and create a modern production facility of state-of-the-art eco-friendly materials – SBR is employed in the production of “Green tires”, which improves fuel economy performance and also tire grip in wet and dry conditions.
Under the terms of the memorandum, Rosneft intends to be a leading investor and equity holder in the plant and Pirelli will cooperate jointly with Rosneft in research and development activities to develop SBR and is interested in entering into a long-term off-take agreement to purchase the SBR produced.