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Borouge extends bid deadline for butene-1 expansion

11 July 2025

Abu Dhabi petrochemicals producer Borouge has extended the deadline for contractors to submit bids for a project to increase production of butene-1 from the olefins conversion unit (OCU) at its Borouge 2 plant.

Borouge aims to produce 60,000 tonnes a year (t/y) of butene-1 from the existing fractionator column, while limiting propylene production from the OCU to 500,000 t/y.

The company intends to achieve the target through the addition of co-monomer production technology and selective hydrogenation units, while maintaining the current design operation of 752,000 t/y of propylene and 39,000 t/y of butene-1, along with increasing storage capacity for butene-1 by converting N1 mixed butane spheres to butene-1-specific units.

Borouge has extended the deadline for contractors to submit technical bids for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) works on the project to 4 August from 11 July, according to sources.

MEED previously reported that Borouge had organised a site visit for bidders for the butene-1 capacity enhancement project on 25 June.

The following contractors, among others, are understood to be bidding for the butene-1 capacity enhancement project:

  • Descon Engineering (Pakistan)
  • Galfar Emirates (UAE branch of Oman’s Galfar Engineering & Construction)
  • Target Engineering Construction (UAE)

Borouge issued the main EPC tender for the butene-1 capacity enhancement project on 4 June, and set an initial deadline of 23 June for submission of technical bids.

Borouge issued an advanced request for tender in May.

Borouge previously awarded US-based Lummus Technology a contract to develop the process design package for the new co-monomer production technology unit, as a licensor of OCU.

Lummus, in turn, sub-contracted the extended process design package and basic engineering works on the project to South Korea’s Samsung E&A.

Borouge plans to award the main EPC contract for the butene-1 capacity enhancement project in the first quarter of 2026.

Butene-1 is a colourless gas mainly used in the production of high-quality plastics such as polyethylene and poly(1-butene). Important applications of Butene-1 are in packaging materials such as films, bags and food packaging.

ALSO READ: Borouge awards output capacity expansion contracts

Borouge entered operations in 2001, with a production capacity of 450,000 t/y of polyethylene. The Borouge 2 and Borouge 3 expansion projects took the capacity to 2 million t/y and 4.5 million t/y of polyethylene and polypropylene in 2010 and 2014, respectively. 

When the under-construction Borouge 4 complex enters operations, Borouge’s overall production capacity will increase significantly from 5 million t/y to 6.4 million t/y, making it the world’s largest single-site polyolefins facility.

The upcoming Borouge 4 polyolefins complex will feature two polyethylene plants – each with a capacity of 700,000 t/y – using the third generation of Borealis Borstar technology. An ethane cracker will supply these plants with a capacity of more than 1.5 million t/y of ethylene, as well as associated ethylene derivatives.

Following the signing of a final investment decision agreement worth $6.2bn by Adnoc and Borealis in November 2021, Borouge awarded the main EPC contracts for the Borouge 4 project in December of that year.

The EPC packages, the winning contractors, their estimated contract values and a brief scope of work are as follows:

  • Early works (package one) – Al-Asab General Transport & Contracting (UAE) – site preparation and early civil works
  • Ethane cracker (package two) – Technip Energies (France)/Target Engineering (UAE) – $1.58bn – building an ethane cracker with a manufacturing capacity of 1.5 million t/y of ethylene
  • Polymers production (package three) – Tecnimont (Italy) – $1.35bn – building two new polyethylene manufacturing plants and a unit to produce 1-hexene, a component in the production of high-performance polyethylene
  • Utilities and offsites (package four) – Tecnimont (Italy) – $1.5bn – constructing non-process buildings, roads, infrastructure, internal and external interfaces, tankage systems, flaring systems and utilities, as well as integration of Borouge 4 with the existing facilities
  • Second cross-linkable-polyethylene (XLPE) plant (package five) – Tecnimont (Italy) – $350m – building an XLPE plant with a capacity of 100,000 t/y.

Italian contractor Maire Tecnimont executed the front-end engineering and design works for Borouge 4.

Borouge awarded France-based Axens a contract to provide licensed technologies in January 2020. This covered supplying a methyl tertiary butyl ether unit coupled with a 1-butene production unit and 1-hexene unit for the project.

The new Borouge 4 facility will cover an area equivalent to almost 500 football pitches, or more than three times the size of Al-Maryah Island in Abu Dhabi. It will produce enough polyolefins annually to make pipes to supply water to 35 million households.

Borouge Group International

Borouge is the petrochemicals-producing joint venture of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and Austrian energy company Borealis. Adnoc owns the majority 56% stake in Borouge, with Borealis holding a 34% stake. The remaining 10% of shares in Borouge trade on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange following an initial public offering in June 2022, from which Adnoc Group earned proceeds of $2bn.

In March, Adnoc and Austrian energy company OMV entered into a binding framework agreement to combine their shareholdings in Borouge and Borealis and take control of a greater share of the global chemicals market.

Adnoc has also entered into a share purchase agreement with Canada-based Nova Chemicals Holdings, an indirectly wholly-owned company of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth institution Mubadala Investment Company, for 100% of Nova Chemicals Corporation (Nova).

Adnoc and OMV have also agreed that upon completion of the planned merger of Borouge and Borealis, the new entity – which will be known as Borouge Group International – will acquire Nova for $13.4bn including debt, further expanding its footprint in North America.

Borouge Group International is intended to be headquartered and domiciled in Austria, with regional headquarters in the UAE. In addition, Borouge Group International will hold corporate hubs in Canada’s Calgary, Pittsburgh in the US and Singapore.

The combination of Borouge and Borealis, and the acquisition of Nova, is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary conditions, Adnoc said.

The acquisition, together with the contribution of the upcoming Borouge 4 petrochemicals project in Abu Dhabi, will create a major polyolefins producer valued at over $60bn. It will be the world’s fourth-largest by nameplate production, with a potential of 13.6 million metric t/y across 62 plants globally.

ALSO READ: Borouge awards $531m contract to Adnoc Logistics & Services
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Indrajit Sen

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