MOSCOW (MRC) -- Orpic, the nation’s refining and petrochemicals flagship, has revealed that Oman’s most anticipated transformational project, Liwa Plastics Industries Complex (LPIC), is currently 67 per cent complete across all four of its Engineering-Procurement-Construction (EPC) packages, as per GV.
The project is set to improve Orpic’s product mix and business model, double its profit and support the development of a downstream plastics industry in Oman. Taking advantage of the growing global market for plastics, LPIC will create new business opportunities and employment in Oman, and firmly reinforce Orpic as a significant player in the international petrochemicals marketplace as it will bring new business development opportunities for the Sultanate in the fast-growing plastics industry.
Construction is ongoing and is expected to be completed by 2020, said Orpic in a statement. With a total investment of USD 6.7 billion, LPIC is expected to boost Orpic’s contribution to develop In Country Value (ICV) for the national economy.
"With the global market for plastics growing, the Liwa Plastics Industries Complex will firmly reinforce Orpic as a recognized player in the international petrochemicals marketplace - enabling Oman, for the first time, to produce polyethylene… and increased the current production of polypropylene," the state-owned entity said.
Liwa Plastics Industries Complex consists of a gas extraction plant in Fahud, a 300 km pipeline from Fahud to Suhar, steam cracker plant, and polymers plant in Suhar Industrial area. The steam cracker plant will process light ends produced in Orpic’s plants in Suhar as well as rich gas received from Fahud plant. Its concept lies in rerouting high value elements of existing production streams, in combination with additional purchased feedstocks to deliver high value polymer products for the local and international marketplaces.
The primary goal of Liwa Plastics Industries Complex is to further increase the value-added that can be derived from Omani crude oil and natural gas. The project has six core components to it:
1) A natural gas extraction plant in Fahud,
2) 300km pipeline between Fahud and Suhar Industrial Port Area for gas transportation,
3) An 800+kTA Steam Cracker Unit,
4) An HDPE Plant,
5) A LLDPE Plant and
6) A Polypropylene Plant
Following commissioning, plastics production is forecast to have increased by more than 1 million tons, giving Orpic a total of 1.4 million tons of polyethylene and polypropylene production.
With the highly integrated complex in Suhar including the refineries, aromatics plant, steam cracker and the downstream polypropylene and polyethylene plants, the operation will be one of the best integrated refinery and petrochemical facility combinations in the world.
About USD 1.5 billion of the total project, cost is allocated to support ICV. The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) works lasting for 4 years until the launch of the project in 2020 will lead to a great addition to the ICV platform across the Sultanate through the joint efforts of the Orpic’s ICV team and the key contractors of the four project packages.
Orpic supports ICV by reinforcing & developing businesses and taking human capabilities into consideration. This is achieved by reaching authenticated (made in Oman) products and materials bought by the company and grow the human capital in all Orpic projects by ensuring at least 30 per cent Omanisation in the companies working for the project.
As MRC wrote earlier, in 2014, Orpic selected LyondellBasell's Spheripol polypropylene process technology for a new 300,000 tpy PP plant to be built in Sohar, Sultanate of Oman. Start-up of the Liwa plastics project is planned for 2018.
ORPIC (Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company) is one of the leading companies in Oman and has two refineries in that country, in Sohar and Muscat. ORPIC is owned by the Government of the Sultanate of Oman and Oman Oil Company SAOC, the trading company created by the Government of the Sultanate of Oman for managing investments in the energy sector.
MRC