Borealis to invest in giant new chemicals complex in UAE

Austrian petrochemical company Borealis intends to have a "significant role" in a planned mega-scale chemicals complex at Khalifa Industrial Zone at Taweelah, the UAE, a company source said May 6. The complex is slated for completion by 2013.

The mega-scale complex is part of an initiative called Chemaweyaat, developed by Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC) and the International Petroleum Company (IPIC).

ADIC is an investment arm of the Abu Dhabi government, while IPIC is the state enterprise responsible for foreign investments in the oil and chemicals sector.

The source did not provide plant details for the planned investment in Chemaweyaat Complex 1, but another investor in the project, Abu Dhabi Ports Co., said in a statement on May 4 that the site will have a total production capacity of 7 million mt/year of olefins, aromatics, oxide and ammonia derivatives.

The Austrian company's investment in Chemaweyaat is separate from its Borouge 3 joint venture project, for which a feasibility study was launched in April. Borouge is a tie-up between Borealis and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.

Tentatively scheduled for completion in 2014, Borouge 3 will be located alongside the Borouge 1 and Borouge 2 petrochemical complexes at Ruwais, about 250 km west of Abu Dhabi.

The project will comprise polyethylene and polypropylene plants for which production capacities have not been announced.

To be completed in 2010, Borouge 2 comprises a 1.5 million mt/year ethane-based ethylene plant, a polyethylene plant with an annual capacity of 540,000 mt/year, an olefins conversion unit that can produce 752,000 mt/year of propylene, two polypropylene plants with an annual capacity of 800,000 mt/year, and utilities plants.

Established in 2001, Borouge 1 comprises a 600,000 mt/year ethylene plant and two polyethylene plants that can produce up to 600,000 mt/year.

Created: May 13, 2008

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