OMV, Borealis Invest in Capacity Expansion at Burghausen Petrochemical Facility

OMV, an integrated oil and gas company, and Borealis, a manufacturer of polyethylene and polypropylene, have announced an investment of E840 million in the expansion of their petrochemical production capacities in Burghausen, Germany.

In November 2006, OMV first announced its E1.1 billion investment in Bavaria. So far E640 million have been invested in the Burghausen refinery and an additional E200 million were invested by Borealis in the expansion of its neighboring plastics production facilities.

Borealis expanded its polypropylene production by integrating an additional Borstar polypropylene plant on its premises in Burghausen. Development started in 2006, and the plant started up in early 2008 after refinery shutdown for the integration of the new components.

OMV plans an 800MW combined-cycle power station for the generation of electricity and steam for the Burghausen refinery. This is an important step towards both an extension of the value-added chain from gas to electricity, and for securing the location. With the integration into the refinery, efficiency is expected to be further increased by 5% on average.