Oman is preparing to tender the main contract on a proposed ammonia plant in Salalah Free Zone in the south of the sultanate, according to sources familiar with the project.

State-owned Takamul Investment Company plans to build a facility with the capacity to produce 1,000 tonnes a day (t/d) of ammonia, which is mainly used to make nitrogen-based fertilisers, cleaning chemicals and for fermentation.

The front-end engineering and design (feed) study has been completed by Germany’s Linde.

Takamul has prequalified companies for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) tender, which is expected to be issued in the coming weeks.

The proposed ammonia plant will use feedstock from the nearby methanol plant operated by Salalah Methanol Company, in which Takamul has a 10 per cent stake.

The scheme is expected to cost “several hundred million dollars”, according to previous announcements by Takamul.

Oman is also progressing on another chemicals project to build a Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA) & Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) plant at the northern port of Sohar.

The project is operated by Oman International Petrochemical Industry Company (Ompet), a joint venture of state-owned Oman Oil Company (OOC), Takamul and South Korea’s LG International Corporation.

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.

According to a source, the EPC package has been tendered with the bid deadline set for the end of April.

Takamul is 93 per cent owned by OOC with Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority (Adwea) and Abu Dhabi’s Al-Maha Strategic Industries for Investments holding the remaining shares.