Abu Dhabi: Construction of the Borouge II project in Ruwais is 98 per cent complete and the complex will be operational in November, a senior executive said yesterday.
By the end of 2013, when production at Borouge III begins, Borouge will be able to produce up to 4.5 million tonnes a year of polyethylene and polypropylene for Middle East and Asian consumption, chief operating officer Roy Vardheim told an industry conference.
With the completion of the multi-billion-dollar Borouge II and Borouge III projects, Abu Dhabi is poised to become an important player in the global petrochemical market.
Capacity
The current capacity of the Borouge I plant at Ruwais, which started production in 2001, is 600,000 tonnes of polyethylene. Borouge is expanding its capacity to 2 million tonnes a year with Borouge II, which will enable the company to produce polypropylene as well.
Vardheim said the polyolefin capacity in the Middle East will double between 2009 and 2012 with 15 million tonnes of new capacity set to be added by 2012.
"The Asia/Middle East region will witness an unprecedented increase in polyolefins capacity over the next four years. Nearly 85 per cent of the global planned polyolefin capacity will take place in the Middle East/Asia region," he added.
