Development of the Russian petrochemical industry in the context of tightening economic sanctions

The problem of the development of the petrochemical industry in Russia in the context of economic sanctions, which caused the complete refusal of the largest manufacturers of technologies and equipment to supply them to Russia, is considered. The mechanisms of adaptation of the industry to the tightening of the regime of foreign economic sanctions have been studied and the main directions of compensation for sanctions impacts have been identified. The possibilities of the parallel import mechanism for continuing the implementation of started investment projects and organizing new routes for supplying products of Russian petrochemical companies to the world market are shown. The dynamics of the main economic indicators of the development of the petrochemical industry according to Rosstat data from 2011 to 2023 is presented (production of the most significant products, industry imports and exports etc.) and assessed the medium-term prospects for the implementation of the industry strategy of import substitution. It is shown that the ratio of exports and imports of petrochemical industry products indicates the effective operation of parallel imports and diversification of sales markets, as well as the optimization of supply chains, primarily by changing the structure of exports with a focus on new markets – to Asian countries, Turkey, a number of countries in South America and Africa. The methodology for cluster development of the petrochemical industry is described and its advantages are identified. The concept of “one step back – two steps forward” was formulated as a way to complete already started projects and, most importantly, to implement new industry development projects based on fundamentally new technologies of the future that need to be developed now. A conclusion is made about the need to transition from the traditional export business model of industry development to a model with partial orientation towards domestic markets for petrochemical products in Russia. At the same time, sanctions stimulate new approaches to the development of the domestic petrochemical industry.

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