With the signing of two additional contracts valued at approxi-mately $3 billion, Abu Dhabi’s Borouge plant has taken another strong step ahead in its  major expansion project Borouge 2.

Tecnimont SpA of Italy won a lumpsum turnkey contract worth approximately $1.85 billion for the construction of three new Borstar technology polyolefins units and associated material handling facilities, laboratory facilities and marine works.
Tecnicas Reunidas SA of Spain won the other contract, granted on a convertible lumpsun basis, to construct the offsite and utility facilities for the expanded plant. The facilities are being built at Borouge’s complex in the Ruwais area of Abu Dhabi emirate.
The contract with Tecnimont will see the development of two Borstar polypropylene plants with a combined annual capacity of 800,000 tonnes and a new Borstar-enhanced PE plant with an annual capacity of 540,000 tonnes to complement the existing 600,000 tonnes-per-year unit.  Preliminary work on the polyolefins unit will begin immediately and is scheduled to be completed in 2010.
The contract with Tecnicas Reunidas will see the supply of utilities to all the associated EPC packages for the Borouge 2 project. Preliminary work will begin immediately and is also scheduled to be completed in 2010.
These contract awards will help in tripling Borouge’s annual production capacity to two million tonnes of polyolefins.   This increased capacity will enable Borouge and its customers to supply high-performance products in an increasingly broad range of demanding applications.
Borouge has already signed a $1.3 billion contract with Linde Engineering for the construction of a new ethylene cracker. The contract was awarded to Linde on a lump sum turnkey basis, with preliminary work already under way and completion scheduled for 2010.
Harald Hammer, chief executive of the Borouge marketing company, commented: “Borouge has made extraordinary achievements since its inception in 1998 and market acceptance of the Borstar range has been exceptional.  These contracts increase the momentum of the Borouge 2 expansion which will bring additional Borstar enhanced polyethylene and now Borstar-enhanced polypropylene to customers across the Middle East and Asia-Pacific.”