after a period of consolidation, Adnoc focused its efforts to expand and diversify its business activities.

As part of a reorganisation programme, the Chemicals Directorate was formed in 1998 to focus on and implement the company's diversification plans in the petrochemical sector.

Over the years, major achievements have been made in the development of the petrochemical sector through Adnoc Group Companies.

Fertil

As part of the industrialisation programme of Abu Dhabi, the Ruwais Fertilizer Industries (Fertil) was established in 1980 as a joint venture between Adnoc and TotalCFP (presently TotalFinaElf).

The partners hold shares in the company in the ratio of 2:1 respectively. The prime objective behind establishing the company was to utilise lean gas supplied from the onshore fields of Bab, Asab and Thamama C to produce fertilisers and market them in the local and international markets.

The complex, consisting of a 1,050 tonnes per day (tpd) urea plant, started commercial production in 1983 and currently exports around 600,000 tonnes of urea annually to some 20 countries, including surplus ammonia. The plants have consistently operated above design capacities.

Last year, Fertil completed the milestone of eight years without a lost time incident, which is considered an outstanding safety achievement.

Borouge

The Abu Dhabi Polymers Company Limited (Borouge), a joint venture company owned by Adnoc (60 per cent) and Borealis (40 per cent), is the first significant chemicals investment in the UAE.

The project, located in Ruwais, includes a 600,000 tonnes per year (tpy) ethane-based ethylene cracker and a 450,000 tpy polyethylene plant capable of swing production of bimodal Linear Low Density Polyethylene (LLDPE) and High Density Polyethylene (HDPE).

The polyethylene grades produced by Borouge, using Borealis' state of the art proprietary Borstar technology, will be more cost effective, substantially stronger and easier to process than conventional materials.

One hundred and fifty thousand tonnes of surplus ethylene will be exported until downstream projects based on ethylene are developed. The $1.2 billion world scale petrochemical complex was commissioned at the end of last year.

Adnoc and Borealis have also formed a separate joint venture company, Borouge Pte.Ltd, Singapore with 50/50 share holding, to market the polyethylene product from Abu Dhabi Polymers Co. Ltd (Borouge) and Borealis.

The new site location, combined with a reliable logistics operation will enable Borouge to meet the most exacting just-in-time delivery requirements of customers in Asia and the Far East.

Expansion of the fertiliser and polyethylene capacities in Abu Dhabi's petrochemical sector is expected in future, as well as the introduction of new product lines such as ethylene di chloride (EDC), vinyl chloride monomer (VCM)/polyvinyl chloride (PVC), linear alpha olefins, ethylene glycol, propylene manufacture, polypropylene and paraxylene.