Borouge commits to further the strategic expansion of its polyolefins operations in Abu Dhabi
Approximately 2.5 million tonnes per year (t/y) of polyolefins capacity to be added to support Borouge’s growth in the Middle East and Asia
Following the successful completion of the feasibility study announced last year, Borouge has decided to enter the FEED (front-end engineering and design) stage of its Borouge 3 project.
The Company is thereby continuing with its plans to significantly expand its polyolefin operations in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, by adding approximately 2.5 million t/y of capacity by the 4th quarter of 2013. The expansion will enable Borouge, a joint venture between the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and Borealis, to meet the growing demands of the high value polyethylene and polypropylene markets in the Middle East and Asia. The addition of low density polyethylene (LDPE) capacity will also enable Borouge to grow in the wire and cable infrastructure market.
“The commissioning of Borouge 3 will ensure that we benefit from the additional feedstock availability resulting from the upstream refinery and gas processing expansions of ADNOC in Ruwais,” says Abdulaziz Alhajri, Chief Executive Officer of Borouge’s Production Company. “The current Borouge 2 expansion project that will triple the manufacturing capacity of Borouge is on track for completion in 2010. The combination of these two projects will enable our significant growth in the Middle East and Asian polyolefin markets in the next decade.”
The Borouge 3 project includes the construction of an ethane cracker, second generation Borstar® polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) units, an LDPE unit and a Butene unit, as well as related off-site utilities and marine facilities, at its plant in Ruwais, some 250 kilometers west of Abu Dhabi. The addition of 2.5 million t/y of polyolefins will boost Borouge’s total production capacity to 4.5 million t/y by the end of 2013.
In addition to investing in polyolefin production capacity, Borouge is expanding its sales and marketing efforts to meet the needs of its customers in the Middle East and Asia. “We are currently investing in our capability to service our customers even better by establishing logistics hubs in Shanghai and Guangzhou in China and a 50,000 t/y compounding plant in Shanghai,” adds Chief Executive Officer of Borouge’s Marketing Company, William Yau. “We are committed to our strategy based on Value Creation through Innovation in the infrastructure, automotive and advanced packaging markets and additional logistics hubs are planned beyond China in the near future.”
Borouge’s current capacity is 600,000 tonnes of polyethylene per year, and the Borouge 2 expansion project will increase its capacity to 2 million t/y. Construction of Borouge 2 began in late 2007 and consists of an ethane cracker of 1.5 million t/y, an olefins conversion unit of 752,000 t/y, two Borstar® PP units with a combined annual capacity of 800,000 t/y, and a Borstar® PE unit with an annual capacity of 540,000 t/y.
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