DMEA: Borouge contracts awarded

This week, DMEA covers a raft of major contract awards for the expansion of the Borouge polyolefins plant in Abu Dhabi.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) and Austria’s Borealis this week awarded contracts for the development of their Abu Dhabi Polymers Co. (Borouge) joint venture’s fourth facility in the UAE’s Ruwais downstream hub.

Following the partners’ commitment last month to invest $6.2bn to develop the Borouge 4 polyolefin (PO) plant by 2025, five engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) packages were awarded this week.

The first package, which covers early EPC work including site preparation, was awarded local firm Al Asab General Transport and Contracting.

Package 2 covering the facility’s 1.5mn tonne per year (tpy) ethane cracker was awarded to a consortium of France’s Technip Energies with the local Target Engineering. The deal is understood to be valued at $500mn-$1bn. The lump-sum turnkey (LSTK) packages three, four and five were all awarded to Italian EPC contractor Tecnimont and are worth a combined total of $3.5bn. These include a polyolefin units package covering two 700,000 tpy polyethylene (PE) units and a 1-hexene unit; a package for a 100,000 tpy cross-linkable PE (XLPE) unit; and one covering offsites and utilities which includes integration of Borouge 4 with existing facilities and the construction of non-process buildings, roads, infrastructure, internal and external interfaces, tankage systems and flaring systems.

Meanwhile, Ghana’s deputy energy minster Dr Mohammed Amin Adam this week said that African countries should increase their refining capabilities and deepen regional trade of refined products and petrochemicals.

Speaking at the eighth edition of the annual Ghana Oil and Gas Awards in Accra, he highlighted that intra-African oil trade accounts for just 5%, adding that amid great market uncertainty, Africans should look to regional trade to improve economic performance.

“We should mobilise resources to trade among ourselves as Africans. We need to build our refinery capacities. This will enable us to create wealth together for now and in the future. We can transform our oil into petrochemicals that are needed everywhere in the world,” Adam said.

He added that according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates, petrochemicals will account for a third of global oil demand by 2030, with this expanding to 50% by 2050.