Founded 20 years ago, Borouge is a leading petrochemicals company providing innovative plastics solutions for the energy, infrastructure, mobility, packaging, healthcare and agriculture industries, Borouge continues to go from strength to strength.

Borouge’s first polyethylene plant, based in Ruwais, UAE, opened in 2001 with 450,000 tonnes capacity. In the following years, the company expanded production into polypropylene and specialised compounds for the mobility and energy industries, achieving its current annual production capacity of 4.5 million tonnes of polyolefins.

The Borouge 4 project, which is presently nearing the conclusion of its pre-FEED phase and will complete by 2025, will include a world-scale, mixed feedstock cracker using existing feedstock available in Abu Dhabi, and downstream derivatives units for both polyolefin and non-polyolefin products.

Construction has also been approved of a new polypropylene plant based on Borstar, PP5, to be integrated in the Borouge 3 complex. Once completed, it will drive growth in Borouge 1, 2 and 3, and add further value to the surplus propylene available from Adnoc’s new propane dehydrogenation unit, according to a company statement.

Borouge’s Ethane Cracker EU2 in Ruwais, UAE: capitalising on opportunities

Ahmed Omar Abdulla, CEO of Abu Dhabi Polymers Company (Borouge) said: “We are excited to achieve progress with this mixed feed cracker project which will be a new milestone in the history of Borouge. Having this fourth complex in our world-class petrochemicals complex, in Ruwais, brings us a step closer to achieving our 2030 growth strategy. Not only will the plant contribute to an additional USD 6 billion to Abu Dhabi’s GDP annually as direct benefit from product revenue, our new project will also create thousands of job opportunities during construction phases and once it is commissioned.”

Borouge recently announced that it will significantly increase production of pre-compounded black polyethylene for pressure pipe applications by investing in a production unit which is expected to be completed within 2020. Borouge has an established global track record in providing its customers with advanced plastic pipe solutions with superior processability, performance and quality. The investment will address the rising demand for the materials as many cities in Asia and other growing economies continue to expand and modernise their utilities infrastructure.

As an economic powerhouse, Asia and the Middle East continue to drive Borouge to grow and develop. The emergence of Asia as a hub of urbanisation and home to a rapidly growing middle class presents a wealth of market opportunities, the statement said.

Thanks to its headquarters in Abu Dhabi and Singapore and a team of experts located across Africa, the Middle East and Asia Pacific, Borouge is ideally positioned to capitalise on opportunities in this diverse and booming region.

A mind-set focussed on sustainable innovation enables Borouge to offer solutions based on sound and sustainable principles which benefit industry, the environment and wider society. Borouge’s 2021 Sustainability Goals have largely contributed to increasing the company’s focus on specific drivers of performance and further commitment to its long term social responsibility, environmental stewardship and economic growth in the UAE in line with the UAE’s Vision 2021. Along with its strong commitment to support the 3Rs concept of Reducing, Reusing and Recycling plastics, Borouge advocates adopting the plastics circular economy as an innovative driving force to ensure plastics sustainability, so plastics never end up in oceans or landfills, but rather be recycled to have a second chance of life.

Borouge is also putting its technical expertise to work in solving the global water challenge through active involvement in the Water for the World programme. It also supports a range of diverse initiatives, including Waste-free Environment, a massive clean-up effort originally founded by the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA); and the Sustainable Campus Initiative. Borouge has been an active participant in the Responsible Care® Global Charter for over a decade.

“Working together to tackle global challenges is the core of our innovation mind-set,” explained Wim Roels, CEO of Borouge Pte Ltd. “We believe it’s not about simply shipping products. It’s about being part of the industries and communities we serve. We want to understand what everybody in that value chain requires, and how Borouge can make it better, more sustainable and more profitable.”

COLLABORATIONS

An official from Borouge Innovation Centre briefing the UAE Ministry of Economy delegation

With an aim to get an insight on the best practices and updates at Borouge Innovation Centre, the UAE’s Ministry of Economy and Borouge explored a mutual collaboration, last month.

A delegation from the Ministry of Economy, led by Abdullah Bin Ahmed Al Saleh, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy for Foreign Trade Affairs, visited the Innovation Centre of Borouge in Abu Dhabi.

The delegation was introduced to the latest practices and technologies used at the Borouge Innovation Centre to produce innovative and value creating solutions of polymers and plastic elastomers that serve a wide range of industries including medical, machinery, automotive, electrical and mechanical supplies and other sectors according to the best advanced industrial technology standards.

It was also introduced to Borouge’s global supply chain network and its warehouses and logistics hubs in the China, India, Southeast Asia and Europe.

Al Saleh underscored the importance of the technology and innovation industry in keeping pace with the new economy standards, increasing the competitiveness of the country’s products and exports in international markets and in facilitating their access to new and promising global markets in different countries.

He also emphasised the importance of partnerships between the government and private sectors in supporting the economic development of the UAE.

He pointed out that Borouge is a pioneering model that harnesses the use of advanced technological developments, innovation and R&D to provide high quality products and innovative solutions in the plastic elastomers industry according to the best international standards.

Borouge’s CEO Ahmed Omar Abdulla pointed out the significance of the visit in strengthening collaboration and coordination between the Ministry and Borouge. He added that the company focuses on joint efforts to protect and develop national industries in line with the country’s economic vision. “These efforts also support Borouge’s development and its leading role in the continuous growth of the petrochemical industry in the UAE and the world,” Abdulla noted.

He further underlined the Ministry’s interest in the Borouge Innovation Centre and its key role in enhancing useful innovations in the field of polymers production and manufacturing, in addition to the interest in the Intellectual Property Registration (IPR) at the Borouge Innovation Centre which enabled Borouge to register more than 600 patents.

Both parties discussed means of cooperation between the Ministry of Economy and Borouge in a number of economic and trade fields.

Borouge’s CEO stated that the wheel of growth never stops. “Since its inception in 1998, Borouge kept growing thanks to the unlimited support it receives from is shareholders Adnoc and Borealis and its ongoing effort to enhance innovation and growth,” Abdulla said.

From 450,000 tonnes in 2001, Borouge has increased its production by 10 times over the past 20 years and plans to double its current production by 2030 to address the growing need to support the civilized development of countries in world markets.

The mission of the Innovation Centre is to contribute to making Borouge the leading provider of plastics solutions in the Middle East / Asia region. Strategically located in the Sas Al Nakhl area of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, it is close to the customers in the UAE and the Middle East region, and to the 2 million tonne per year Borstar PP and PE production plants in Ruwais.