Expansions: Borouge breaks ground on Borouge 4 plant in UAE; AkzoNobel to scale-up in-house production of resins

Polyolefins maker Borouge, a joint venture of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and Austrian chemicals producer Borealis, has started construction of its fourth facility, the US$6.2 billion Borouge 4, within the polyolefin manufacturing complex in Ruwais, UAE. It is scheduled to be completed in 2025.

Borouge 4 will play a significant role in meeting the projected growth of customers’ demand for polyolefins in the Middle East, Africa and Asia as well has providing critical feedstock that will enable the TA’ZIZ Chemicals Industrial Chemicals Zone in Ruwais.

The expansion of Borouge 4 follows confirmation of the final investment decision in November 2021. The new plant will enable the next phase of growth at the Ruwais Industrial Complex by supplying feedstock to TA’ZIZ, enhancing local industrial supply chains and boosting In-Country Value opportunities. Scheduled to be operational by the end of 2025, the plant will produce 1.4 million tonnes of PE, boosting the company’s total annual polyolefin production to 6.4 million tonnes, making Borouge the world’s largest single-site polyolefin complex.

Thomas Gangl, Borealis CEO, said “Borouge 4 is another milestone in the successful business journey and strategic partnership between Borealis and ADNOC. The new expansion embodies our mutual commitment to continue supporting our customers in the Middle East, Asia and Africa with differentiated polyolefins solutions that cater for their future ambitions in the energy, infrastructure, and advanced packaging industries.”

The Borouge 4 project will utilise Borealis’ proprietary Borstar technology, to produce a product portfolio focused on durable applications for energy, infrastructure, advanced packaging, and agriculture sectors. The expansion project 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.

Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Managing Director/Group CEO of ADNOC commented: “We are honoured by the presence of His Highness, Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan as we lay the foundation stone of this world-scale project, which marks a major milestone in ADNOC’s downstream and industry expansion. We continue to receive strong interest from international and local investors who want to partner with us in growing and developing our downstream and petrochemical business in Ruwais. Borouge 4 will strengthen our domestic supply chain, while accelerating In-Country Value and boosting the UAE’s economic diversification, in line with the Leadership’s wise directives. In terms of sustainability, a study for a Carbon Capture unit that would reduce CO2 emissions has been initiated as part of the project”.

Meanwhile in other news, Dutch paints/coatings company AkzoNobel NV says that it will scale-up the in-house production of resins as it aims to build resilience against supply disruptions. The company--which houses the Dulux, Polycell and Cuprinol brands--said it plans to invest in sites, equipment and staff. Resins are a key ingredient for making coatings. They’re used as a binder to hold the pigment particles together and provide adhesion to the coated surface.

The plans include investing in sites, equipment and the people needed to optimally run them. They were developed after an internal resins team was tasked with investigating opportunities to unlock more value and make the company more self-sufficient. The investment is expected to contribute around EURR15 to EUR20 million in EBITDA by 2023.

“It quickly became apparent that investing in our own resin capability was the way to go,” continues Friede. “It will enable us to secure raw material supply to optimally support our Grow & Deliver ambitions and, at the same time, we’ll look to generate extra value by leveraging and optimizing the volumes we don’t bring in-house with our network of external partners.

“We’re well aware that demand for resins is only expected to increase,” he adds. “Meanwhile, our resin manufacturing sites have extra production capacity available. So the decision to increase our investment in the production of resins at favorable economics is intended to add important value to our customers and our company.”

The investment is perfectly in line with AkzoNobel’s People. Planet. Paint. approach to doing business. It will specifically contribute to the company’s officially validated science-based sustainability target of reducing carbon emissions across the value chain by 50% by 2030. This target is also aligned with the 1.5˚C pathway of the Paris agreement.

(PRA)

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