Borouge sets schedule

16 December 2005
Technical bids are due to be submitted on 3 April to Abu Dhabi Polymers Company (Borouge)for the ethane cracker package on the estimated $2,500 million phase 3 expansion of the Ruwais petrochemical complex. Commercial bids are due to be submitted by a tentative deadline of early September (MEED 9:12:05).

Worth $900 million-1,100 million, the contract will involve the construction of a 1.4 million-tonne-a-year (t/y) ethane cracker. All five members of the ethylene club have been invited to bid for the contract, for which an award is due in December 2006. They will team up with engineering and construction (EPC) contractors to price the package.

Borouge is tendering the package on an open book with cost plus basis, which will be converted to lump-sum eight-10 months into the project's execution. 'The basic and detailed engineering elements, however, will be carried out on a fixed lump-sum basis,' says an industry source. The successful bidder will also supply technology.

The cracker is the central element in 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 expansion is being carried out in five packages. Besides the ethane cracker, the other packages are: olefins conversion unit; offsites and utilities; PE/PP units; and marine works. Tenders for the other packages are expected next year.

On completion in 2009, the expansion will triple Borouge's capacity to 2 million t/y. The US' FosterWheeleris the 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.

www.meed.com/petrochemicals

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