MOSCOW (MRC) -- Borealis, an Austrian petrochemical company controlled by Abu Dhabi, plans to get the first drops of ethylene flowing by the end of May from a plant expansion in the emirate costing more than USD4 billion, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.
The mechanical works for the Borouge 3 ethane cracker were signed off eight weeks ago, and since then engineers have been setting systems for cooling, testing and safety, and getting the ethane-fed furnaces to an operating temperature of 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,800 Fahrenheit), CEO Mark Garrett said in a phone interview.
The expansion project began in 2009 with a handshake between Garrett and his counterpart at Borouge partner Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. in a hotel in Fuschl, Austria.
Annual capacity at Borouge, about 155 miles (250 kilometers) from the city of Abu Dhabi, will more than double to 4.5 million tons from 2 million tons of ethylene and the derivative polyethylene and polypropylene plastics used in car parts and packaging.
First-quarter net income surged 67% from a year earlier to 102 million euros (USD140 million) as higher demand for polyethylene offset a “soft market” for the fertilizer business, Vienna-based Borealis said in a statement. Sales jumped 14% to 2.26 billion euros.
In addition to lower fertilizer demand, unreliable plants meant Borealis missed out on selling some supplies on the spot market at higher prices, Garrett said. The company is also combating weakness in the European infrastructure market, where governments have cut spending on such products as plastic water pipes, Garrett said.
Borealis has also upgraded plants in Kallo, Belgium, and Grand-Quevilly, France. An abundance of US shale gas makes it increasingly likely that supplies will flow into Europe by ship, Garrett said.
Borealis is still studying whether it should import US ethane as an alternative to obtaining the feedstock from the North Sea, and such a move would be potentially "very interesting", given the coastal location of its crackers, the CEO said.
Borealis is a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. The only polyethylene (PE) producer in Sweden, Borealis’ Stenungsund facilities include a PE plant, a cracker for ethylene and propylene production, and an innovation center focused on research and development for infrastructure markets.MRC