Borouge plans additional polyolefin capacity

Borouge has announced 2.5 million tonnes/yr of new polyolefins capacity to support its growth in the Middle East and Asia, including low-density polyethylene (LDPE) production targeting the growing wire-and-cable infrastructure markets. Borouge, which is a joint venture between the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) and Borealis, says its Borouge 3 plant will come on stream in the fourth quarter of 2013 and utilize additional feedstock made available by expansion of ADNOC’s upstream refinery and gas processing. Polyolefins capacity will jump from 2.5 to 4.5 million tonnes/yr by the end of 2013.

The company is entering into the front-end engineering and design stage of the project, following completion of a feasibility study last year. The company’s Borouge 2 expansion project, which is already underway, was already set to triple its manufacturing capacity once completed in 2010.

The new project includes the construction of an ethane cracker, second-generation Borstar polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) units, an LDPE unit, and a butene unit. It will also include offsite utilities and marine facilities at its plant in Ruwais, which is 250 km west of Abu Dhabi. The addition of 2.5 million tonnes/yr of polyolefins will boost Borouge’s total production capacity to 4.5 million tonnes/yr by the end of 2013. Given that much of this new resin is targeting markets outside the Middle East, with a particular eye for China, the company says it plans to increase its sales and marketing efforts in addition to planned logistics hubs in Shanghai and Guangzhou. A 50,000-tonnes/yr compounding plant is also in the works for Shanghai.

Borouge’s current PE capacity is 600,000 tonnes/yr, with the Borouge 2 expansion project set to increase it to 2 million tonnes/yr. Construction of Borouge 2 began in late 2007 and consists of a 1.5-million-tonnes/yr ethane cracker, a 752,000-tonnes/yr olefins conversion unit, two Borstar PP units with a combined annual capacity of 800,000 tonnes/yr, and a 540,000-tonnes/yr Borstar PE unit. —[email protected]