Abu Dhabi Polymers Company (Borouge)has kicked off tendering on the estimated $2,500 million phase 3 expansion of its Ruwais petrochemical complex by issuing the first part of the invitation to bid (ITB) package for its new ethane cracker.

All five members of the ethylene club - ABBLummusGlobal, Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR)and the ShawGroup, all US-based, Germany's Linde, and Paris-based Technip- have been invited to bid for the estimated $900 million-1,100 million technology-cum-engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract. A bid deadline will be set once the rest of the ITB is released, scheduled for the second week of December (MEED 25:11:05).

Ethane feedstock for the 1.4 million-tonne-a-year cracker will be sourced from the third phase of the onshore gas development (OGD-3) and phase 2 of the Asab gas development (AGD-2) project in Abu Dhabi, due to come on stream in 2008.

The cracker project is the central element of the expansion, which will also see the construction of one 540,000-t/y polyethylene (PE) unit and two 400,000-t/y polypropylene (PP) units, the tenders for which are expected next year.

On completion in 2009, the expansion will triple Borouge's capacity to 2 million t/y. The US' FosterWheeleris the scheme's project manager. HSBCis financial adviser. Financial close is expected in early 2007.

Borouge is a 70:30 joint venture of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC)and Copenhagen-based Borealis(MEED 28:10:05).