Borouge's petrochemical plant in Ruwais, UAE, about 250 kilometers from Abu Dhabi. [Provided to China Daily]

Borouge is a leading provider of innovative, value-creating plastics solutions, and a groundbreaking, international partnership that is at the forefront of plastics innovations today and tomorrow.

The company is a joint venture between the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), one of the world's major oil and gas companies, and Austria's Borealis, a leading provider of chemical and innovative plastics solutions.

Borouge has its head offices in the United Arab Emirates and Singapore and employs approximately 1,600 people, from more than 40 nations. Its customers cover a wide area - more than 50 countries across the Middle East, the Asia-Pacific region, India, and Africa.

In 2010, Borouge tripled its annual production capacity in Abu Dhabi, to 2 million tons and expects to increase that to 4.5 million tons by mid-2014, by relying on the resources and cutting-edge technology of the parent companies.

"A considerable amount of Borouge's output is sold in China, which is one of our most important business areas in the Asia-Pacific region. Because of China's importance, we've been increasing our manufacturing, marketing, sales, and innovative capacity in key cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong," explained Andy Liu, regional general manager for Borouge, Asia North.

"China is the world's largest polyolefin market and we see it as an important, strategic point. Our development here has taken place at several stages, with certain projects initiated in 2008, some foothold gained in 2009, and more development and expansion in 2010," Liu added.

Dynamic development

Borouge has built upon Borealis' Borstar technology and more than 50 years of experience, to provide valuable plastics solutions in various sectors - infrastructure (including piping, and power and communication cables), the automotive industry, and advanced packaging.

Liu said that the past year has been a milestone on Borouge's Chinese market entry, especially in the basic configuration of infrastructure and operations.

It inaugurated its first compounding manufacturing plant, and the first-ever production facility outside the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in Shanghai last April. The plant can produce up to 50,000 tons a year of compounded resins which are innovative solutions for plastics used in the rapidly growing automotive and household appliances industries.

Borouge also has logistics hubs in Guangzhou and Shanghai, and plans to build a second compounding plant in Guangzhou. That plant will have a target output of 105,000 tons of compounded resin.

Borouge initially started with a production capacity of a mere 450,000 tons, and went on to become a major polyolefin producer that tripled its volume in Abu Dhabi, in 2010, to 2 million tons. This petrochemical plant is in the UAE, located at Ruwais, some 250 kilometers west of Abu Dhabi city.

In 2010, Borouge increased its polyolefins manufacturing capacity of the plant under the project name of "Borouge 2". The approximately $ 5 billion investment enables Borouge to produce a total of 2 million tons of Borstar (polyolefins per year. This project includes an additional ethane cracker, a third polyethylene unit, an olefins conversion unit for the conversion of ethylene to propylene and two new polypropylene units, spearheading the company's entrance into polypropylene production.

The company's next stage of development is "Borouge 3", which is based on advanced technical support to provide cooperation along the entire value chain and help "shaping the future with plastics". This involves developing innovative products and providing solutions for the infrastructure, automotive, and advanced packaging markets.

"Borouge has shown its commitment to customers by sticking to its goals", Liu said. "For example, during the latest financial crisis, when the petrochemicals industry faced a rare recession, Borouge went ahead and developed and expanded its plant threefold to reach 2 million tons of production capacity."

Enhanced presence

When asked about its China growth, Liu pointed to the industry policies of the Chinese government as a favorable way for them to move ahead in this robust economy.

China's urbanization has also done its bit to increase the development of the automotive sector. The compounding plant in Shanghai currently produces compounded resin for automobile and appliance industry.

"Now, with the state of art technology and facility, we can come up with instant solutions to our customer requests." Liu continued. He sees a positive outlook for Borouge in China. "Infrastructure, automotive and advanced packaging will be growth points for Borouge."

Corporate responsibility

China's petrochemical industry is expected to change from an energy-consuming, pollution-producing industry to a clean, efficient, green, biochemical one, under the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015). And, fuel will be replaced by renewable carbon resources and biomass technology.

Borouge points to its work in environmental protection, for instance, its collaboration with local car manufacturers in developing products to reduce weight and save cost.

It is committed to the principles of Responsible Care, a chemical industry, volunteer initiative to improve health, safety and environmental performance. It also works with Borealis in contributing solutions to the world's water and sanitation problems through the 'Water for the World' initiative.

Currently, one of its major concerns is the shortage of talented people. It is confident that its growth ambitions attract the right caliber of people. To further develop young talent, Borouge has provided scholarships at universities with degrees related to the chemical industry and gets them to engage in training programs to experience a competitive, productive work environment. "We strongly believe that with the cutting-edge technology and talented people, we can shape the future with plastics," Liu concluded.