The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) announces in a statement that it has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Borealis AG to build the fourth Borouge facility – Borouge 4 – at the polyolefin manufacturing complex in Ruwais, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The value of agreement is $6.2 billion (AED22 billion).
The facility will produce 1.4 million tons of polyethylene per annum. Expansion project includes construction of a 1.5 million tonnes ethane cracker, two state-of-the-art Borstar polyethylene plants and a cross-linked polyethylene plant.
The final investment agreement was signed at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC) by His Excellence His Excellency Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and ADNOC Managing Director and Group CEO and Borealis CEO, Thomas Gangl.
The agreement was witnessed by His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Member of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Office and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).
Borouge 4 will capitalize on the projected growth in customer demand for polyolefins, driven by their use in manufactured products in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The facility will also enable the next phase of growth at the Ruwais Industrial Complex by supplying feedstock to the TA’ZIZ Industrial Chemicals Zone.
Scheduled to be operational by the end of 2025, ADNOC will supply Borouge 4 feedstock.
The facility will utilize Borealis’ proprietary Borstar technology, to produce a product portfolio focused on durable applications for energy, infrastructure, advanced packaging, and agriculture sectors. This unique technology, in combination with hexene co-monomer, will enable the production of advanced packaging grades with up to 50% recycled polyethylene content.
The new Borouge 4 facility covers an area equivalent to almost 500 football pitches, or over three times the size of Al Maryah Island in Abu Dhabi, will produce enough polyolefins annually to make enough pipes to supply water to 35 million households. Borouge’s value-add materials are used to manufacture a diverse range of products including industrial-grade pipes, cables, films and personal protective equipment.
The first Borouge facility, producing 450,000 tons of polyethylene per annum was commissioned in 2001. Borouge 2 and Borouge 3 took capacity to 2 million tons and 4.5 million tons of polyethylene and polypropylene per annum in 2010 and 2014 respectively. Borouge 4 will boost the company’s annual polyolefin production to 6.4 million tons, making Borouge the world’s largest single-site polyolefin facility.
