UAE’s Borouge moves forward with phase 4 Ruwais complex expansion

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Borouge has awarded contracts for the fourth-phase expansion of its Ruwais petrochemicals complex in the UAE, which will include a 1.8m tonne/year mixed feed cracker as well as polyolefin units.

An ADNOC facility (Source: ADNOC)

The mixed feed cracker will be the fourth in the Borouge complex, the company’s parent firm Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) said in a statement on 26 February.

Borouge awarded the front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract, project management contract and license contract associated with the mixed feed cracker complex, to TechnipFMC, Maire Tecnimont and WorleyParsons.

Timelines for project completion and overall costs were not disclosed by Borouge.

In a separate statement, Maire Tecnimont said that the FEED contract from Borouge was worth about $45m on a “reimbursable basis” and is expected to be completed within 2020.

The mixed feed cracker will be the world’s largest and have an overall capacity to produce 3.3m tonnes of olefins and aromatics using a variety of feedstocks such as ethane, butane and naphtha from ADNOC’s refinery and gas processing facilities, according to ADNOC.

Borouge is a joint venture between ADNOC and Austria’s Borealis.

“Both ADNOC and Borealis intend to finalize the downstream configuration within three months, following the FEED award,” it said.

ADNOC has plans to triple its petrochemicals production to 14.4m tonnes/year by 2025.

“Having this fourth complex in our world-class petrochemicals complex, in Ruwais, brings us a step closer to achieving our 2030 growth strategy,” Borouge CEO Ahmed Omar Abdulla said.

“Not only will the plant contribute to an additional $6bn to Abu Dhabi’s GDP annually as direct benefit from product revenue, our new project will also create thousands of job opportunities during construction phases and once it is commissioned,” Abdulla said.

The new polyolefins capacity resulting from the mixed feed cracker enables Borouge to expand its portfolio and ensures a long-term security of supply, said Wim Roels, CEO of the marketing and sales arm of Borouge.

“Having the new plants on stream will enable Borouge to meet the increasing demand for polyolefins in our key markets in the Middle East, Asia and Africa by expanding our product portfolio and deliver leading edge products of differentiated, innovative and sustainable plastics solutions that meet our customers’ growth ambitions,” Roels added.

ADNOC on 21 February announced that it has awarded a FEED contract to the Wood Group for a new 600,00 bbl/day refinery as part of its $45bn downstream expansion strategy.

In late 2018, Borouge began construction of its new 480,000 tonne/year polypropylene (PP) unit in Ruwais which will be integrated with the existing Borouge 3 facility.

The new PP plant is expected to come on stream in the third quarter of 2021 and will increase the company’s PP capacity by 25% to 2.24m tonnes/year.

Borouge’s total annual capacity of 4.5m tonnes in Ruwais includes:

– 2.3m tonnes of polyethylene per year

– 1.76m tonnes of polypropylene per year

– 350,000 tonnes of low density polyethylene per year, supporting its cross-linkable polyethylene (XLPE) compounding facility.

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