Jacobs Engineering Secures FEED Contract for Borouge 3 Expansion Project in Abu Dhabi

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Jacobs Engineering Group Incorporated (NYSE:JEC) (Pasadena, California) recently secured a front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract for part of the Borouge 3 expansion project, which involves expansion of the polypropylene/polyethylene complex belonging to Abu Dhabi Polymers Company Limited (Borouge) (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates).

Jacobs' contract covers the compounding, soaking and product-handling lines at the complex and is scheduled for completion by the middle of next year. To date, neither the value of the contract nor the total investment value of the project has been officially disclosed.

Borouge is a joint venture of Borealis AG (Vienna, Austria) and state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) (Abu Dhabi). Borealis, in turn, is a 64:36 joint venture of International Petroleum Investment Company (Abu Dhabi) and Austrian oil and gas company OMV AG (WBAG:OMV) (Vienna).

The Borouge 3 expansion project, to be constructed in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi, will include an ethane cracker, a butane unit, and polyethylene and polypropylene units. The expansion will add approximately 2.5 million tons per year of polyolefins production capacity, bringing the total capacity of the complex to 4.5 million tons per year and allowing the complex to produce low-density polyethylene (LDPE). Feedstock for the expansion project will be supplied by ADNOC. The complex is expected to be operational by the end of 2013.

Jacobs will incorporate Borealis' proprietary cross-linkable polyethylene (XLPE) technology in the design. The technology is capable of producing an extremely pure form of XLPE, mainly from high-density polyethylene (HDPE). XLPE is used as an insulator for high-tension electrical cables and is also known as PEX, a name under which it is rapidly becoming a viable alternative to polyvinylchloride (PVC) and copper in domestic water pipes. Borealis is the leading producer of XLPE, which the company manufactures in Stenungsund, Sweden. Stenungsund will serve as the base from which Jacobs will execute work for the project.

The Borouge 2 complex includes one of the largest ethane crackers in the world, with an annual production capacity of 1.4 million tons of ethylene. Borouge and Borealis are also developing the Borouge Innovation Center in Abu Dhabi City, which is intended to be the leading facility for providing innovative solutions in the plastics sector in the Middle East and Asia. The center is scheduled to open at the end of this year and will concentrate initially on pipe, film and molding applications.

Jacobs is a leading global supplier of professional technical services, including scientific and specialty consulting, as well as engineering and construction. The company is active in many different sectors, ranging from aerospace and automotive to petrochemical and refining. The company has more than 160 offices located in more than 20 countries spread across North America, Europe, India, Australia and Asia. Jacobs has about 57,000 employees.

Borealis is a leading provider of chemicals and innovative plastics and has 5,400 employees at its headquarters in Vienna and across manufacturing plants in Austria, Belgium, Finland and Germany and Sweden. Borealis also has special compounding units situated in the U.S., Brazil and Italy.

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