COMPANY HISTORY

Giprokauchuk Institute was founded in October 1931 as the state design and research institute for the synthetic rubber industry. The world’s first synthetic rubber and monomer production plants were built in the early 1930s to Giprokauchuk’s designs in Yaroslavl, Voronezh, Yefremov, and Kazan. During World War II, Giprokauchuk continued its work: synthetic rubber was of strategic importance to the defense industry – it was used to manufacture tires, seals, and insulation for military equipment. Design work did not stop even under wartime conditions.

With the discovery of major oil fields in the Volga region and the growth of the petrochemical industry, Giprokauchuk significantly expanded its design activities in synthetic rubber production. It designed the largest industrial clusters in the USSR for producing petrochemical products and polymers, including synthetic rubber plants in Tolyatti, Sterlitamak, Sumgait, and Omsk. This was one of the most significant time periods in the Institute’s history. As the general designer, Giprokauchuk took part in the construction of Nizhnekamskneftekhim – the largest petrochemical plant in Europe. The facilities built included: central gas fractionating plant (CGFU), isoprene, isoprene rubber, butyl rubber, butadiene, ethylbenzene, styrene, and ethylene and propylene oxides production. Giprokauchuk also served as the general designer for the Tobolsk Petrochemical Plant, which featured the largest central gas fractionating plant (CGFU) of its time, with the capacity of 3 million tons per year. Cooperation started with companies from Japan, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, and South Korea. Synthetic rubber plants were built in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, and China to Giprokauchuk’s designs.

Giprokauchuk has retained skilled workforce and adapted its service portfolio to the new market environment, building partnerships with oil and petrochemical companies. The Institute continues its cooperation with Nizhnekamskneftekhim, and actively collaborates with SIBUR Holding PJSC and the LUKOIL Group, specifically at the Stavrolen LLC petrochemical cluster and the LUKOIL-Permnefteorgsintez refinery, as well as with ShchekinoAzot, working alongside global engineering companies such as ABB Lummus Global, Linde, Fina Technologies, Toyo Corp., and UOP. A new design focus – offshore oil production facilities in the Caspian Sea for LUKOIL-VolgogradNIPImorneft LLC – has emerged for Giprokauchuk.

Giprokauchuk develops its expertise in the design of offshore platforms for oil production and treatment. Ice-resistant offshore platform LSP-2 and the central processing platform were built in the Caspian Sea to the Institute’s designs for LUKOIL-Nizhnevolzhskneft. The Kharyaga Field Development Project was a landmark project in the field of oil and gas field development, which involved upgrading the central production facilities (CPS) for Total (France). The detailed design documentation was developed jointly with Sojitz Corporation (Japan) for the mineral fertilizer integrated plant of Ammonia OJSC in Mendeleevsk. Giprokauchuk developed the detailed design documentation for the acrylamide and polyacrylamide production plant with the capacity of 60,000 tons per year in Saratov for SNF Flopam (France). The Institute continues its cooperation with the SIBUR Group companies in Russia and abroad: butyl rubber production with the capacity of 100 ktpa in Jamnagar, India; MTBE plant at Tobolsk-Neftekhim LLC; and reconstruction of the only PTA production facility in Russia, increasing its capacity to 330 ktpa. Giprokauchuk completed the basic design acceptance for neopentyl glycol production with the capacity of 30 ktpa for SIBUR-Khimprom JSC. The project design documentation was developed for styrene production with the capacity of 460 ktpa for SIBUR-Khimprom JSC. A long and productive cooperation has started with Tatneft PJSC as part of the construction of the oil refining and petrochemical plants cluster with the capacity of 14 million tons of oil per year. The project design documentation was developed for the production of butadiene and its derivatives in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The terephthalic acid production plant with the capacity of 1 million tons per year was a landmark project for Giprokauchuk; the project design documentation for it was developed jointly with KUNLUN CONTRACTING & ENGINEERING CORPORATION (China). Currently, Giprokauchuk is introducing and further developing 3D design and BIM (Building Information Modeling) technologies.