Borouge launches water initiative for the Middle East and updates on expansion progress

It is a first for the global plastics industry.

More than 1 billion people around the world are without sustainable access to fresh water and over 2 billion lack basic sanitation. Water for the World leverages the expertise that Borouge and Borealis have built in the Middle East, Asia and in Europe, and fosters local knowledge and partnerships throughout the value chain to deliver sustainable solutions for the availability of safe water and sanitation.

In the long term, Water for the World aims to build local knowledge and partnerships to find lasting solutions to the water availability issue. This includes a broad range of value adding activities from supporting community projects led by Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP) to engaging stakeholders in professional training, education and promotion of best practices as with the Gulf Plastics Pipe Academy initiated by Borouge in Abu Dhabi.

In addition, Borouge will spearhead the regional development of the Global Water Tool, a water optimisation project introduced in 2007 by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Initial assessments of Borouge's own Middle East operations indicate positive results in water efficiency.

Speaking at the launch of the initiative during The GCC 11th Industrialists' Conference in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Borouge Production Company's CEO Mr Abdulaziz Al Hajri stated:

"The challenge is not about finding more water; it is about using and preserving it. We are proud to launch this pioneering effort in our industry to make a difference in the Middle East."

Borouge Marketing Company's CEO Mr Harald Hammer added: "Addressing the global water challenges is a strategic commitment for Borouge and requires new long-lasting and sustainable solutions, such as our BorSafe grade for pipe systems."

At the conference, Borouge also took the opportunity to update on the execution of the company's strategic Borouge 2 expansion project. Borouge 2 - which will triple existing production capacity to two million tonnes per year, produce for the first time polypropylene, and quadruple the innovative product portfolio - is on schedule and construction has begun on all four EPC packages. The packages include a new ethylene cracker - the largest grass-roots gas cracker in the world - two Borstar polypropylene plants with an annual capacity of 800,000 tonnes, and a Borstar enhanced polyethylene plant with an annual capacity of 540,000 tonnes. Also included is an olefins conversion unit with total annual output of 752,000 tonnes of propylene plus utilities and off sites to support the expanded production.

Borouge 2 is being constructed alongside Borouge's existing production facilities at Ruwais, Abu Dhabi, UAE.