Borouge commissions new unit at Ruwais petrochemical complex

Abu Dhabi Polymers Co. Ltd. (Borouge), a joint venture of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) and OMV AG’s majority held Borealis AG, has commissioned the partnership’s fifth polypropylene plant (PP5) at Borouge’s integrated polyolefins complex in Ruwais, about 250 km west of Abu Dhabi City, UAE (OGJ Online, Mar. 21, 2019; July 13, 2018).

Officially in operation as of Feb. 24 and located within the Borouge 3 complex, the new PP5 unit is designed to produce 480,000 tonnes/year (tpy) to increase Borouge’s total PP production capacity by more than 25% to 2.24 million tpy to meet growing global demand for raw PP used to manufacture more sustainable and readily recyclable advanced packaging, infrastructure, and other industrial materials by the operator’s key customers across the Middle East, the Asia Pacific, and Africa, Borouge, Borealis, and OMV said in separate releases.

Alongside increasing Borouge’s overall PP production capacity, the PP5 unit also will boost the operator’s total polymer capacity of polyolefins by 11% to 5 million tpy from 4.5 million tpy, the companies said.

Commercial operation of PP5—which began commissioning activities in late 2021—follows the partnership’s November 2021 final investment decision (FID) to move forward with its previously proposed fourth expansion of Borouge’s integrated polyolefins complex (Borouge 4), which will involve construction of a new 1.5-million tpy ethane cracker, two polyethylene plants based on Borealis’ proprietary Borstar technology, and a cross-linked 1.4-million tpy polyethylene plant to further meet rising demand for polyolefins by manufacturers in the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific (OGJ Online, Nov. 17, 2021).

Scheduled to become operational by yearend 2025, the Borouge 4 complex will boost the operator’s Ruwais sitewide production capacity of polyolefins—including polyethylene and PP—to 6.4 million tpy to make it the largest single-site polyolefins complex in the world, the operator said.