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Feed contracts awarded for Abu Dhabi chemicals plants

11 June 2024

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Front-end engineering and design (feed) contracts have been awarded for three chemicals production plants that will be built in the Taziz Industrial Chemicals Zone in Abu Dhabi’s Ruwais.

Germany-headquartered Thyssenkrupp Uhde has won feed contracts for an ethylene dichloride (EDC) plant and a chlor-alkali plant, according to sources.

France-based Technip Energies has won the feed contract for a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) facility, sources told MEED.

The three planned chemicals plants are part of a scheme known as Project Salt. It is among the main investments in the first phase of development for the upcoming petrochemicals derivatives complex by Taziz.

Taziz – a 60:40 joint venture of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and Abu Dhabi’s industrial holding company ADQ – first announced the EDC, chlor-alkali and PVC plants in December 2021. India’s Reliance Industries was named as the main investor in the chemicals plants at the time.

Reliance is understood to have pulled out of Project Salt and has been replaced by France-based Kem One, the sources further said.

Taziz Industrial Chemicals Zone

Since 2021, Taziz has attracted investments from several foreign investors for its planned chemicals projects in the under-construction Taziz Industrial Chemicals Zone in Ruwais.

In addition to the three chemicals plants planned under Project Salt, a joint venture of UAE-based Fertiglobe, South Korea’s GS Energy Corporation (GS Energy) and Japanese investment firm Mitsui & Company (Mitsui) have invested in a “world-scale” blue ammonia production facility in the Ruwais derivatives complex.

The joint venture recently awarded the construction contract for the 1 million-tonnes-a-year blue ammonia facility to Tecnimont, after having awarded the engineering and procurement contract to the Italian contractor in February last year.

Separately, Taziz and Switzerland-based energy and chemicals company Proman also signed a shareholder agreement for a planned methanol project in January last year. The two companies initially announced the planned project in March 2022.

MEED recently reported that contractors were preparing technical bids for the planned methanol plant, which will be the UAE’s first. The projected production capacity of the methanol complex is 5,000 metric tonnes a day, or 1.8 million metric tonnes a year.

In December 2021, Taziz secured agreements from eight UAE-based entities for investments in its planned chemicals projects in Ruwais. The agreements marked the first domestic public-private partnership in Abu Dhabi’s downstream oil and gas and petrochemicals sector.

ALSO READ: Abu Dhabi launches next Taziz phase

Regarding infrastructure to support units in the chemicals production zone, Adnoc has signed an agreement with Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) to develop a cogeneration power facility in Ruwais.

Separately, Netherlands-based VTTI has recently received commercial bids from contractors for a project to build a chemicals handling and export terminal at the Taziz Industrial Chemicals Zone – a scheme known as Project Landing.

Taziz has planned seven petrochemicals derivatives projects as part of the first phase of its industrial chemicals zone, which are:

Anchor product

End-use

Chlor-alkali

Water treatment, metallurgy and textiles

Ethylene dichloride

Housing, infrastructure and consumer goods

Maleic anhydride

Piping, construction and heavy transport

Methanol

Energy, consumer goods and pharmaceuticals

Blue ammonia

Agriculture, apparel and energy

Isopropyl alcohol

Healthcare and cosmetics

Elastomers

Automobiles, adhesives, food production and storage

Chemicals production is a priority sector for Operation 300bn, the UAE’s industrial growth strategy.

The industrial strategy is being overseen by the Industry & Advanced Technology Ministry, which aims to raise the UAE industrial sector’s contribution to the national GDP to AED300bn ($81.7bn) by 2031.

ALSO READ: Taziz signs up tenants for light industrial cluster
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Indrajit Sen

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    11 July 2025

     

    Across the Maghreb, amid a range of external and internal pressures, the pursuit of political stability is emerging as the overarching preoccupation for governments as they compete for trade, growth and investor interest.

    Wracked by drought, years of disruption due to Covid-19 and the impact of the war in Ukraine on grain prices, and now facing the boot of arbitrary US tariffs, the economies of the region need certainty more than anything.

    With fast-growing populations, all of the Maghreb countries face serious challenges in maintaining sufficient job creation to cater to their youth, and with local spending constraints, attracting foreign investment is key.

    None of the Maghreb countries seem to understand this better than Morocco, which has been rolling out what might be described as a GCC-style vision for the country. Most recently, in September 2024, it launched the Digital Morocco 2030 strategy to use artificial intelligence to improve access to services in rural and underserved areas.

    Such initiatives are central to Morocco’s broader New Development Model (NDM) strategy, first laid out in 2021 and recognised by bodies such as the Washington-based IMF as a key driver of economic transformation in the country. Key indicators for the NDM include doubling the country’s GDP per capita to $16,000 by 2035, doubling the rate of women in the workforce, raising renewables to 40% of total energy consumption and developing the digital sector to account for 5% of GDP.

    Rabat is also widening the country’s social security net, having expanded family allowances in 2023, and with plans to expand old-age pensions and unemployment benefits in 2025. The government is also improving access to services for Amazigh speakers in answer to loud political calls since the 2016-17 Amazigh-led Hirak Rif movement protests.

    From creating jobs to supporting vulnerable groups and minorities, the common thread in Rabat’s domestic policy is expediting measures to address emerging risks to social and political stability at source.

    Externally, Morocco has meanwhile intensified its diplomatic campaign for international recognition of its semi-autonomy plan for Western Sahara. First proposed in 2007, the scheme initially received little traction, but the situation changed significantly in 2020 with then US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the territory as part of a deal to normalise ties with Israel. In 2022, Spain also shifted its stance to one of support for Rabat’s autonomy plan, followed by France in early 2024 and by the UK in June 2025 – each country for their own reasons.

    The fresh support is a diplomatic sea change for Morocco after 30 years of across-the-board rejection of its claims to the territory and calls for Sahrawi self-determination. It also boosts Rabat’s effort to secure more foreign direct investment (FDI) into Western Sahara and local projects, such as the Morocco-UK XLinks energy initiative.

    For Madrid, the recognition also resolves a point of contention between the two neighbours, particularly ahead of the pending co-hosting of the 2030 Fifa World Cup by Morocco, Spain and Portugal.

    Advances in Algiers

    Across the border in Algeria, the wheels of legislative change have also been slowly turning, with new hydrocarbons and investment laws, accompanied by the lifting of some restrictions on foreign ownership, raising the possibility of boosting inbound FDI.

    The government is also emphasising private sector-led growth and the rationalising of public spending, as well as initiatives to improve the business environment by reforming public banks and state-owned enterprises.

    President Abdelmadjid Tebboune secured his re-election for a second term in September 2024 with the support of 84.3% of the vote, in a reassuring referendum on the political stability of the country’s post-Bouteflika political order.

    Although the country’s politics remain marred by the suppression of the opposition, the broader shake-up in government is reflected in the ongoing reforms and demonstrates the country’s political awareness of the need to deliver.

    In a mirror image of Morocco’s diplomatic journey, Algiers has worsening foreign relations with Paris and Madrid due to its staunch opposition to the Western recognition of Moroccan claims to the Western Sahara region.

    In May 2025, Algeria expelled 15 French diplomatic agents, citing their “irregular positions” on the geopolitical issue. The incident matched similarly negative responses by Algeria to Spain in 2022.

    Trouble in Tripoli

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    Talks to establish a unified interim government and hold national elections have stalled over the past year, however, with armed clashes between rival militias in Tripoli in May 2025 only reaffirming the precarious state of affairs in the country.

    The UN remains central to Libya’s peace process, and in early 2025, the UN appointed Hanna Tetteh as the Special Representative for Libya, while a 20-member Libyan Advisory Committee was established to address contentions over the proposed electoral process.

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    Turbulence in Tunisia

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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.

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    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.

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    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.

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  • Frontrunner emerges for Saudi Pirelli tyre plant

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    MEED understands that the contract is being finalised and is expected to be signed within the next few weeks.

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    The project is being developed by Saudi Arabia’s Mena Tyre Company, which is a joint venture of Saudi sovereign wealth vehicle the Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Italian tyre maker Pirelli Tyre.

    The PIF holds a 75% stake in the venture, with Pirelli holding the remaining 25%.

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    READ THE JULY 2025 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDF

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    > PROJECTS MARKET: GCC projects market collapses
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    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/14249219/main.jpg
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  • Hilton signs hotel agreement in Medina

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    In an official statement, Hilton said that it currently operates 20 hotels across the kingdom. It has a further 77 properties in the pipeline.

    In March last year, Saudi Arabia’s Dan Company, which is backed by Saudi sovereign wealth vehicle the Public Investment Fund (PIF), signed an agreement with Hilton Hotels & Resorts. Under the agreement, Hilton will operate three resorts at Dan Company’s Palm One project in Al-Ahsa.

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    The enabling works on the project, which include shoring, piling, dewatering and excavation, are nearing completion and are being undertaken by local firm International Foundation Group.

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    The contract award follows Arada’s signing of a AED604m ($164m) deal in March to construct the first phase of the Arada Central Business District project in Aljada, Sharjah.

    The contract was awarded to the local Modern Building Contracting Company.

    Arada is the developer behind three masterplanned residential communities in Sharjah. The Aljada, Masaar and Nasma Residences communities are together valued at AED33bn. In Dubai, Arada is developing the Jouri Hills project.

    Covering 24 million square feet in the Muwaileh district, the masterplan for Aljada includes residential districts, as well as retail, hospitality, entertainment, sporting, educational and healthcare components, and a business park.

    The UAE’s heightened real estate activity is in line with UK data analyst GlobalData’s forecast that the construction industry in the country will register annual growth of 3.9% in 2025-27, supported by investments in infrastructure, renewable energy, oil and gas, housing, industrial and tourism projects. 

    The residential construction sector is expected to record an annual average growth rate of 2.7% in 2025-28, supported by private investments in the residential housing sector, along with government initiatives to meet rising housing demand.

    READ THE JULY 2025 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDF

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    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/14247708/main1423.jpg
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