United Arab Emirates petrochemicals firm Borouge has awarded three engineering procurement and construction contracts (EPC) totalling $2.6 billion for its plant expansion, the firm said on Wednesday.

The new expansion - Borouge 3, will see capacity increase to 4.5 million tons per year (tpy) by 2013, making it the largest integrated polyolefins site in the world. Italy's Maire Tecnimont and its joint-venture partner Samsung Engineering of South Korea were awarded a contract to build two enhanced polyethylene and polypropylene units. The pair were also awarded a contract worth $400 million for the construction of a low density polyethelene unit. The annual capacity of the polyethylene units stands at 1.08 million tpy, while annual polyprolylene units have a capacity of 960,000 tpy.

A $935 million contract for the utilities and off-site facilities for the expanded plant was awarded to Hyundai Engineering and Construction of South Korea.