Ongoing global expansion, from Porvoo to Pasadena
With the strong support of its two majority shareholders OMV (Austria) and The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC, UAE), Borealis continues to expand its global footprint to become a fully customer-centric provider of advanced and sustainable polymer solutions in key sectors such as energy, mobility, consumer products, and infrastructure. The joint venture Borouge, established in 1998 in the UAE, and listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) since 2022, is one of the world’s largest integrated polyolefin complexes. It is currently the site of the company’s largest-ever growth project: Borouge 4, the new USD 6.2 billion facility in Ruwais, which will serve customers in the Middle East and Asia. In North America, the Baystar joint venture, founded in 2017 and operated with partner TotalEnergies, entailed the construction of a new ethane cracker as well as the most advanced Borstar plant ever built outside of Europe. The state-of-the art, USD 1.4 billion PE Borstar 3G plant in Pasadena, Texas was started up in late 2023 and has brought Borstar to this continent for the first time. Borealis’ commitment to Europe as a production location is evidenced by the new, world-scale propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant currently under construction at Borealis operations in Kallo, Belgium.
Upholding the highest standards in ESG
A common set of values - We Care, We’re Curious, We Progress - govern all aspects of doing business at Borealis, and unite a highly multicultural and diverse group of employees from around 120 countries. Sustainability is embedded in all Borealis endeavors, from R&D to production, from procurement to stakeholder engagement, and decarbonization. By 2030, 100% of the electricity used to operate its own production operations in Europe will be of renewable origin. Borealis will reduce its Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions from 5.1 million tons/year (the 2019 baseline) to under 2 million tons in 2030.1
Borealis also strives to be among the safest companies in the petrochemicals sector, with a commitment to “Zero Harm” and a stated goal of becoming the industry leader in Health, Safety, Security, and the Environment (HSSE) by 2030. It is a signatory to progressive initiatives such as the recent Antwerp Declaration for a European Industrial Deal, an effort to restore industry competitiveness and safeguard jobs in Europe while reinforcing the aims of the European Green Deal. Borealis is likewise committed to upholding the principles of important international initiatives, including those forwarded by the Circular Plastics Alliance and the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty. The Borealis Social Fund seeks to enhance the social welfare of the communities in which Borealis operates; one important program is Project STOP, dedicated to preventing plastic leakage into marine environments in Indonesia. Borealis and Borouge’s Water for the World Initiative is helping solve the challenge of global water supply and sanitation in rural and urban communities in both South-East Asia and Africa.
