Commercial production at the United Arab Emirates' first petrochemicals facility at Ruwais near Abu Dhabi will start next month, an official said Saturday, November 17.
Initial production is expected to be in the range of 3,000-5,000 tons of ethylene and 15,000 tons of polyethylene, and the plan is gradually to increase production during 2002, said Joost Schrevens, CEO of Abu Dhabi Polymers Co (Borouge), a 60-40 joint venture between Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) and Copenhagen-based Borealis.
Although the $1.2-billion facility comprises a 600,000-ton a year ethylene cracker and two Borstar bimodal polyethylene plants with a combined annual capacity of 450,000 tons, initial production will be low.
"We may not reach full capacity in the first year. We have to build up the market. We expect to reach full capacity by 2003," Schrevens told AFP. Exports will start in January 2002, with about 60 percent of the production going to Asian markets, a third to the Middle East and the rest to Europe, he said.
The Abu Dhabi facility is the UAE's first significant downstream petrochemical investment and is the only Borstar bimodal polyethylene facility in the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region.— (AFP, Abu Dhabi)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
