Borealis will not proceed with the development of integrated steam cracker and polyethylene (PE) project in Kazakhstan, said the company.
The decision to discontinue this project is based on a thorough assessment of all aspects of the prospective venture and impacted by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the increased uncertainty of future market assumptions.The company signed a joint development agreement in March 2018 with United Chemical Co. to develop the world-scale petrochemical project at Atyrau, Kazakhstan. UCC has previously put the estimated total investment figure for the integrated petchem project at $6.8 billion.But this year Alfred Stern, CEO of Borealis, and Mark Tonkens, CFO, outlined cost-cutting plans to mitigate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the company’s balance sheet, including reducing its capital expenditure in 2020, but did not highlight specific longer-term projects that could be affected. Borealis is progressing with three major growth projects - the Kallo, Belgium, propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant; its Baystar in Texas and the PP5 Borouge PP project at Ruwais, Abu Dhabi, but Stern said it was “unrealistic” to expect them to be completed on time due to current circumstances.
