Borouge builds 5th PP plant

Borouge has awarded the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract for the construction of an additional polypropylene plant (PP5), to be integrated with its Borouge 3 complex in Ruwais. The new plant would expand polymer production capacity to almost 5 million tonnes per annum by 2021.

 

The EPC contract has been awarded to Tecnimont SPA, a subsidiary of Italy’s Milan-based Maire Tecnimont, that provides engineering, procurement, and construction services to oil, gas, petrochemical, and chemical industries. 

 

Borouge, a joint venture of ADNOC and Borealis was established 20 years ago and production has progressively increased as the Borouge 1, 2 and 3, plants have come on stream. Borouge 2030 Growth Strategy is aims to double the production capacity by 2030. Under ADNOC’s In-Country Value (ICV) program, this project will maximise spend on local products, manufacturing, services and infrastructure. The ICV initiative also seeks to catalyse socio-economic development, improve knowledge transfer and create additional employment for UAE nationals.

 

 

Based on Borealis Borstar® technology, the new plant, will have a nameplate capacity of 480,000 tonnes per annum and is expected to come on stream in Q3 2021. With this investment the total polypropylene production capacity of Borouge will grow to 2.24 million tonnes per annum.

 

The awarding of the EPC contract comes one year after Borouge shareholders ADNOC and Borealis, announced plans for the construction of a Borouge 4 complex in Ruwais, which will encompass a world-scale, mixed feedstock cracker and downstream derivatives units for both polyolefin and non-polyolefin products.

 

Increasing petrochemical production capacity is a key pillar of ADNOC’s aggressive downstream expansion strategy, which will see it become a world class producer, supplier and trader of refined and petrochemical products as it focuses on markets in Asia, including China.  At the heart of this strategy is a $45 billion investment, over the next five years, that will create the world’s largest integrated refining and petrochemicals hub in Ruwais, where ADNOC will convert 20% of its crude to chemicals, tripling petrochemical production capacity to 14.4 million tonnes per year, by 2025. In parallel, ADNOC intends to build an international, integrated downstream presence, including securing additional crude refining capacity in growth markets.

 

Global demand for polyolefin products is strongly driven by the growth in emerging economies. Both ADNOC and Borealis are determined to take advantage of Borealis innovative Borstar® technology, a world-leading product portfolio and a favorable geographic location at the pivot point between East and West, to capitalise on the markets of steepest growth in Asia. Building new capacity in the UAE will ensure the long-term security of supply towards those markets.