On a sprawling construction site in Western Siberia, about 20,000 workers are busy building what will be one of the world’s five biggest petrochemical plants, part of a play by Russia to capture more of the value from the oil it produces.

Russian energy companies, led by privately owned Sibur, have been increasingly shifting their focus to petrochemicals in a drive to capitalise on the fast-growing sector and offset the volatile market for crude oil exports.

According to the EY consultancy, Russia accounts for about 1 per cent of global petrochemical output, trailing not only the United States and Europe but also Thailand, Taiwan, Brazil, Iran and China.

That is set to change, with the Sibur plant due to come on stream, while gas giant Gazprom plans to invest $5 billion in a petrochemical plant on the Baltic Sea, and oil major Rosneft has said it will ramp up its petrochemical capacity in Russia’s far eastern region.

The Sibur plant is taking shape near Tobolsk, birthplace of Dmitry Mendeleev, the inventor of the periodic table and one of the founders of modern chemistry.

It is also close to many of the fields that produce crude oil, the raw material for much petrochemical production. Most of Russia’s oil is exported as crude, a trade that has delivered diminishing returns as world oil prices have weakened over the past four years.