Project Profile
Value: US$800 million
Location: Sohar Industrial Port, Oman
Capacity: 1 million tonnes per annum (mtpa)
Start-up Year: -
Oman Oil Company, the wholly Omani government owned energy investment vehicle, plans to invest around US$800 million in the establishment of a major petrochemicals plant at Sohar Industrial Port. Boasting a world-scale capacity of around 1 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), the project will manufacture Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA) and Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), both key ingredients that will not only extend the hydrocarbon value chain, but also drive investments in secondary and tertiary downstream industries. A project company is under formation to oversee the implementation of the petrochemicals venture, which is expected to be built as part of the petrochemicals cluster within the industrial port.
Significantly, the proposed PTA/PET project will add to Oman Oil \'s burgeoning investments in the rapidly expanding petrochemicals and refining sector in the Sultanate. It is understood that the planned PTA/PET project is likely to source its feedstock requirements from the aromatics scheme at Sohar. The latter has a production capacity of 818,000 metric tonnes per annum of paraxylene and 198,000 metric tonnes of benzene. Paraxylene is the primary feedstock used in the manufacture of PTA and PET. PTA is a key raw material component in the polyester value chain, used mainly for the polyester industry to produce fibres and yarns.
Operators:
Oman International Petrochemical Industries Company (OMPET): 100% shared between the joint venture stakeholders:
Oman Oil Company: 50%
Takamul: 20%
LG: 30%
Contractors:
Uhde Inventa-Fischer (UIF): PET technology
BP: PTA production
Worley Parsons Oman: Project Management Consultant