Abu Dhabi Polymers Co Ltd (Borouge) completed a $40- million expansion in early March to increase polyethylene production, the company announced.

The de-bottlenecking was successfully implemented during a planned ethylene unit turnaround at the site that minimised disruption to customers. With this expansion, Borouge ethylene production will be fully converted into polyethylene.
Located in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi emirate, the $1.2 billion petrochemical complex was officially opened in October 2002 to produce enhanced polyethylene (PE) products to meet the growing needs of the packaging and pipe industries in the Middle East and Asia Pacific.
Borouge uses Borstar bimodal process to deliver enhanced PE products that are intrinsically high performance and high value, combining excellent mechanical strength and product processability. Their superior performance enables significant down-gauging and product “lightweighting” for packaging film, consumer bottles, pipe applications and wire and cable, resulting in material cost savings of up to 30 per cent, the company said.
“We aim to be the preferred supplier of polyolefins in the Middle East and the Asia Pacific,” said Harri Bucht, chief executive officer of Borouge.
Hubert Puchner, chief executive of Borouge Pte Ltd, the company’s marketing arm, commented: “We hope to increase our production capacity significantly over the next few years and build on what is already a world-class petrochemical complex. Demand has outstripped supply for our enhanced PE products over the last two years. We have sold-out while running at full capacity,” said Hubert Puchner, chief executive of Borouge Pte Ltd.
“These enhanced grades have proved to be very popular with customers looking for cost-effective, high-performance polyolefins for both traditional and new applications. The new capacity will be used to satisfy growing demand from customers from East Africa, the Middle East, the Indian Subcontinent, northeast and southeast Asia and the Pacific region.”