Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) plans to tender a 500,000 tonne-a-year (t/y) polypropylene (PP) plant at Ruwais in the UAE before the end of the year.

The state-owned firm intends to tender the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the scheme, which was first announced in 2015, in the coming months.

The project will be integrated with the Borouge 3 complex, which has a production capacity of 4.5 million tonnes a year.

The PP unit will use technology from Vienna-based Borealis, after the two firms signed an agreement to more forward with the scheme. The proposed plant will use surplus propylene available from Takreer’s new propane dehydrogenation unit. A spokesperson for Borealis told MEED that tender is expected before the end of 2017.

Italy’s Marie Tecnimont previously completed the front-end engineering and design for the scheme.

Borealis, which is the joint venture partner on Abu Dhabi’s flagship petrochemicals project, Borouge is also moving ahead with a proposal for a fourth complex, which has a 2023 completion date.

Abu Dhabi wants to increase its petrochemicals capacity to 11.4 million t/y by 2025, from the current 4.5 million t/y.