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ABU DHABI polyolefins group Borouge has awarded a $1.1b lump sum turnkey contract for construction of an ethane cracker to Germany’s Linde Group.

The cracker – the third in Abu Dhabi - will have a capacity of 1.5m t/y of ethylene and be located at the town of Ruwais. The contract is the first contract to be awarded for the planned Borouge 3 polymers and petrochemicals hub, says Borouge’s ceo Abdulaziz Alhajri. “In addition to the ethane cracker, the expansion includes the construction of second generation Borstar polypropylene and polyethylene units, a low density polyethylene unit and a butene unit, as well as related off-site utilities and marine facilities,” he adds.

"Nowhere else in the world has a petrochemical company installed so much olefins capacity in such a short time as Borouge is currently doing in Abu Dhabi,” says Aldo Belloni, member of Linde’s executive board.

The new cracker, the third of its kind that Linde is building for Borouge in the past ten years, complements Borouge’s earlier 600,000 t/y and 1.5m t/y ethane crackers. The 1.5m t/y cracker is still under construction as part of the plant’s expansion from 600,000 to 2 m t/y of polyolefins by mid-2010. Once the third cracker is complete in 2013, polyolefins capacity at Ruwais will rise to 4.5 m t/y.

Borouge is a joint venture between the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and plastics technology specialist Borealis. The company supplies the infrastructure, automotive and advanced packaging markets in the Middle East and Asia.