Abu Dhabi - The Petrochemical Sector.

At present the petrochemical sector in Abu Dhabi is small, consisting of a fertiliser complex at Ruwais built in the early 1980s, a poly-vinyl chloride venture and a plant to produce chemicals such as chlorine, sodium hypochlorite, hydrochloric acid, etc. But in the fourth quarter of 2001, Abu Dhabi will have a major petrochemical complex in Ruwais with a capacity to produce 600,000 t/y of ethylene and 450,000 t/y of polyethylene. In a venture called Abu Dhabi Polymers Co. (Borouge), owned 60% by ADNOC and 40% by Borealis, the petrochemical complex will cost about $1 bn. The $640m contract to build the ethylene plant was awarded on Nov. 10, 1998 to a Linde- Bechtel partnership. The contract also calls for the construction of offsites, utilities and buildings for central control, the administration and a fire station. The contract for the two 225,000 t/y polyethylene units, to use the Borealis Borstar bi-modal technology, plus a container loading terminal and packaging storage facility will be awarded in early 1999. These units will produce HDPE and LLDPE. The complex will be near the Ruwais refinery and GASCO's gas-processing plant. GASCO will be supplying the ethylene unit with tail ethane, which it extracts from onshore gas. The project managers are Fluor Daniel and Parsons Corp. Neste Engineering did the front-end engineering and designs for the HDPE and LLDPE plants. ADNOC and Borealis are setting up a 50-50 marketing venture in Singapore for sales in Asia, with Borealis to use its sales network in Europe as well. Borealis, based in Copenhagen, is the biggest producer of polyethylene and polypropylene in Europe. International Petroleum Investment Co. (IPIC), which is 50-50 owned by ADNOC and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, in May 1998 bought 25% into Borealis and another 25% was bought by OeMV of Austria in which IPIC has 19.56%. The other 50% in Borealis is held by Statoil of Norway. IPIC and OeMV bought their stakes from Neste Oy, with OeMV having sold its petrochemical unit PCD Polymers to Borealis (see DT No. 3). ADNOC and Borealis agreed on their JV on June 12, 1996, when the latter was chosen after two years of fierce competition by BP Chemicals, Novacor, Phillips and Mitsui. They established their JV company at end-1996. A $580m plant at Ruwais to produce 520,000 t/y of ethylene di-chloride (EDC) and 420,000 t/y of caustic soda, chemicals used in the salt industry, is to be awarded in the first quarter of 1999. Salt will account for about 70% of of the EDC plant and the rest will be ethylene feedstock from the above JV. The plant will also have a chlor alkali unit to produce 1,200 t/d of chlorine, and units to produce salt for domestic consumption and hydrogen for the Ruwais oil refinery. The contract includes development of a salt dome at Jebel Dhanna with a brine producing facility, and a pipeline to take the product to Ruwais. Brown & Root is the project manager. ADNOC is delaying an aromatics project in Ruwais, planned since the late 1980s, to produce paraxylene and benzene. It will take naphtha from the Ruwais refinery's new condensate units. Fertiliser Industries (Fertil) operates an ammonia and urea plant at Ruwais. ADNOC's share in this is 66.66%, with Total holding the rest. Incorporated in October 1980, Fertil produces well over its nameplate capacity and most of its output is exported to China and India. The company has a marine terminal, adjacent to the fertiliser complex, within Jebel Dhanna-Ruwais port area. Fertil is to raise its capacity to 1,400 t/d of ammonia (from 1,000 t/d) and 2,100 t/d of urea (from 1,500 t/d). Feasibility studies were done in 1995/96. In December 1994, Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan issued a decree authorising General Industry Corp. (GIC), which oversees main government industries, to give licences for the private sector to enter the petrochemicals business in Abu Dhabi "provided this is carried out in co- ordination with ADNOC". Other firms in the chemical sector are National Chlorine Industries (NCI) and the National Plastic Pipe Company. NCI is wholly owned by ADNOC and operates a plant at Umm Al Nar producing sodium chloride, chlorine, caustic soda, hydrochloric acid and sodium hypochlorite mainly for local use. Some output is exported to other GCC states. National Plastic Pipe Co. is a partnership between ADNOC (51%) and Itochu Corp. of Japan (49%). It has produced PVC from a plant at the Mussaffah industrial zone in southern Abu Dhabi since 1976.