Adnoc and Borealis ink Dh22 billion agreement to expand Borouge facility

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), has witnessed the signing of a strategic partnership that confirms a $6.2 billion investment agreement between ADNOC and Borealis AG to build the fourth Borouge facility – Borouge 4 – at the polyolefin manufacturing complex in Ruwais, United Arab Emirates (UAE), which will produce 1.4 MM tons of polyethylene per year.

Expansion project includes construction of a 1.5 MM tons ethane cracker, two state-of-the-art Borstar^® polyethylene plants and a cross-linked polyethylene plant. Borouge 4 will meet growing customer demand across the Middle East, Africa and Asia with differentiated polyolefin solutions in energy, infrastructure, and advanced packaging.

The new facility will benefit from industry-leading technologies to significantly improve energy efficiency and lower emissions, with carbon capture study underway. Upon expansion, Borouge will be the world’s largest single-site polyolefin complex.

Borouge 4 will capitalise 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.

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.

Scheduled to be operational by the end of 2025, ADNOC will supply Borouge 4 feedstock.

Borouge 4 will have an industry-leading focus on sustainability leveraging the capabilities of both shareholders. The facility will utilise 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 comonomer, will enable the production of advanced packaging grades with up to 50 percent recycled polyethylene content.

Subject to an in-depth study, a Carbon Capture unit that would reduce CO2 emissions by 80 percent could also be operational in time for Borouge 4’s start-up. The facility is also designed to capitalise on ADNOC’s recent initiatives on clean energy, decarbonising its power supply through access to Abu Dhabi’s clean power sources. These initiatives are aligned with the UAE Net Zero by 2050 Strategic Initiative.

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 year in 2010 and 2014 respectively. Borouge 4 will boost the company’s annual polyolefin production to 6.4 MM tons, making Borouge the world’s largest single-site polyolefin facility.