Oman plans early 2015 tender for polyester complex

28 October 2014

Design phase almost complete on $600m-plus production facilities in Sohar

Oman International Petrochemical Industry Company (Oipic) is planning to tender its purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) complex in Sohar at the beginning of 2015.

The front-end engineering and design (feed) phase of the polyester chemicals project is almost complete and the company is now preparing to invite bids for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) work, Abdullah al-Risi, senior project engineer at the local Takamul Investment Company, told MEED’s Oman Projects Forum in Muscat on 27 October.  

Takamul holds a 20 per cent stake in Oipic, with its parent group Oman Oil Company (OOC) holding 50 per cent and South Korea’s LG Corporation owning the remaining 30 per cent.

The plant will have the capacity to produce 1.1 million tonnes a year (t/y) of PTA and 500,000 t/y of PET, which is used to make plastic drinks bottles and other packaging.

Al-Risi estimated that the project would require an investment of more than $600m. Earlier this year, Australia’s WorleyParsons was appointed as project management consultant (PMC) for the EPC phase.

Takamul is also planning to build a plant in Sohar to produce up to 100,000 t/y of purified isophthalic acid (PIA). The intermediate chemical will be combined with the PTA from the OOC plant to produce PET.

Al-Risi said this project is still in the basic design stages.

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