Borouge lets contract for fourth petrochemical expansion

Borouge 4 LLC, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Polymers Co. Ltd. (Borouge)—a joint venture of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) and Borealis AG—has let a contract to Worley Ltd. to provide project management consultancy (PMC) services for the fourth expansion of Borouge’s integrated 5-million tonnes/year (tpy) polyolefins complex in Ruwais, about 250 km west of Abu Dhabi City, UAE (OGJ Online, Nov. 17, 2021).

As part of the May 24 contract, Worley will deliver PMC specifically on the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) phase of the Borouge 4 expansion that—scheduled to become operational by yearend 2025—will boost the operator’s Ruwais sitewide production capacity of polyolefins—including polyethylene and polypropylene—to 6.4 million tpy to make it the largest single-site polyolefins complex in the world, the service provider said in a release.

Worley, which will execute the project from its Abu Dhabi office with support from its global offices, did not reveal a value of the PMC contract.

Borouge 4 overview

The latest contract for Borouge 4 follows the operator’s late-2021 contract award to a consortium of Technip Energies and partner Arabtec Holding PJSC’s Target Engineering Construction Co. LLC to provide EPC on the project’s more than 1.5-million tpy ethane cracker equipped with proprietary process technology from Technip Energies (OGJ Online, Dec. 7, 2021).

Technip Energies also will include evaluation of the cracker’s carbon footprint to minimize future carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions at the site in line with the operator’s goal of accelerating the transition towards a low-carbon future.

Alongside the new ethane cracker, the $6.2-billion Borouge 4 will also include the addition of two polyethylene plants based on Borealis’ proprietary Borstar technology, as well as a cross-linked polyethylene plant, that together will produce 1.4 million tpy of polyethylene to help meet increased demand for polyolefins by manufacturers across the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific.

Following startup, ADNOC said the Borouge 4 plant also will enable the next phase of growth of Ruwais’ broader industrial complex by allowing the Borouge partnership to supply feedstock to the TA’ZIZ Industrial Chemicals Zone, one of three special industrial ecosystems under development by ADNOC and UAE’s ADQ that specifically aims to anchor a host of petrochemical projects by both domestic and outside investors.