Borouge prepares for phase 3 PMC commercials

01 October 2004
International contractors are due to submit commercial offers by 5 October to Abu Dhabi Polymers Company (Borouge)for the contract to carry out project management consultancy (PMC) services on the $2,500 million phase 3 expansion programme. Technical proposals for the estimated $20 million-30 million PMC contract were submitted earlier this year (see Special Report, pages 38-39; MEED 30:7:04).

Among the companies bidding for the contract are Fluor Daniel, Foster Wheelerand Parsons International, all US-based. The scope also covers front-end engineering and design (FEED) works.

'The PMC contract will be awarded in early 2005 at the latest,' Borouge chief executive officer (CEO) Harri Bucht said on the sidelines of the MEED Major Project Opportunities in Abu Dhabi conference on 26 September. The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts will go out for tender about 12 months later, in early 2006, Bucht added.

The proposed phase 3 expansion at Ruwais calls for the construction of a 1.4 million-tonne-a-year (t/y) ethane cracker and several downstream units. In addition to a planned 540,000-t/y polyethylene (PE) unit, Borouge is mulling options for two 400,000-t/y polypropylene (PP) units, all using Borstar technology. The final scope of the complex will depend on evaluation of the findings of a feasibility study for the phase 3 project, which has now been completed. The new complex is due to be completed in 2009/10.

Work is due to be completed in early 2005 on phase 2 of the Borouge development programme, covering the debottlenecking of the existing 450,000-t/y PE capacity. Italy's Tecnimontis carrying out the estimated $40 million project, which will see PE capacity rise by 130,000 t/y (MEED 11:6:04).

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, a 60 per cent shareholder in Borouge, is also studying several other petrochemical projects, including a paraxylene plant, for which a study is to be completed by the end of 2005, and fertiliser and melamine units (see page 11).

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