Borouge successfully starts up fifth polypropylene unit in Ruwais

Borouge, a joint venture between Adnoc and Borealis that provides innovative, value-creating polyolefin solutions, has announced the successful start-up of its new fifth polypropylene unit (PP5) in Ruwais.

The new unit will boost the UAE’s polypropylene production to meet the growing global demand for manufactured products in the recyclable advanced packaging, infrastructure, and other industrial sectors.

Hazeem Sultan Al Suwaidi, CEO of Abu Dhabi Polymers Company (Borouge), said, “This marks further progress on Borouge’s growth journey and the development of Ruwais into a dynamic, global hub for downstream activity, enabling the UAE’s long-term industrial growth and economic diversification.

“Our PP5 unit will enable us to meet our customers’ increasing demand for polypropylene solutions, especially in the packaging and infrastructure sectors across our key markets in the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Africa.”

Built within the Borouge 3 plant, PP5 is a key milestone in Borouge’s 2030 growth strategy. The new unit will deliver 480,000 tonnes per year (t/y) and increase Borouge’s polypropylene production capacity by more than 25 per cent to 2.24 million t/y, and its total polymer capacity of polyolefins by 11 per cent from 4.5 to 5 million t/y.

The new facility will have the annual capacity to manufacture raw materials to produce enough pipes for the water supply networks for the equivalent of 6,500 Burj Khalifa buildings. The start-up of PP5 follows soon after the announcement of the Final Investment Decision for the world-scale Borouge 4 expansion, which makes Borouge’s Abu Dhabi manufacturing facilities the world’s largest single-site polyolefin complex.

Rainer Hoefling, CEO Borouge Pte, commented, “We work closely with our customers and value chain partners to achieve their circular economy commitments through several initiatives.”

“These include the development of mono-material packaging solutions that are designed for recyclability. We will be able to provide solutions that drive total cost benefits for customers by leveraging Borstar technology to deliver unparalleled cycle time improvements, reduced warpage, and energy efficiency.” Demand for products manufactured from polypropylene is set to rise in the coming decades as it is a versatile and readily recyclable material. The new PP5 unit will strengthen Borouge’s offering of sustainable, innovative and differentiated products to meet emerging demand.

Polypropylene will be used by customers and value chain partners will use polypropylene to manufacture recyclable packaging and create strong, durable and lightweight pipes.

PP5 supports the UAE In-Country Value and ‘Make It In the Emirates’ programmes Borouge’s PP5 project has successfully achieved an In-Country Value score of more than 60 per cent, indicating the level of sourcing from UAE companies and ‘Made in UAE’ content. All steel structures, piping and fittings were procured in the country. A total of 30 per cent of all installed equipment was ‘Made in UAE’ and all subcontract services were sourced from the local market.

Borouge is proud to support the new 10-year strategy implemented by the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT).

The company is committed to playing a key role in achieving economic sustainable development in the UAE, unlocking new developments opportunities to ‘Make It In The Emirates’.

Construction of the PP5 unit started in December 2018 and has been successfully completed during the global COVID-19 pandemic. More than one hundred Borouge employees and four thousand contractors worked on the project. Construction was delivered safely and on time, with more than 24 million safe man-hours recorded. The commissioning of the unit started at the end of 2021.

Adnoc and Austrian chemicals producer Borealis are considering a potential initial public offering of a minority stake in their joint venture Borouge, a petrochemical manufacturer based in the UAE.

Abu Dhabi-based Borouge consists of production unit Borouge ADP and sales and marketing company Borouge Pte. Adnoc holds 60 per cent in Borouge ADP while Borealis holds the remainder. Both companies have an equal stake in Borouge Pte.

Adnoc and Borealis will provide further material updates “as and when appropriate”, they said on Tuesday.

No listing venue was specified for the IPO but were it to take place on Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange it would be among the latest in a string of IPOs on the second-biggest Arab stock market.

The shares of Abu Dhabi Ports Group, the operator of industrial cities and free zones in the emirate, began to trade on the ADX last week.

“As part of our ‘ADX One’ (initiative), we will continue to encourage the listings pipeline to enhance our dynamic capital market,” said ADX managing director and chief executive Saeed Al Dhaheri last week.

WAM