Petrochemicals producer Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (Orpic) has signed an agreement with state-owned Oman Gas Company (OGC) for the operation and maintenance of the natural gas to liquids (NGL) extraction plant and associated pipelines of its upcoming Liwa Plastic Industries Complex (LPIC) project.

As part of this package, OGC will provide operation and maintenance services for the new gas to liquids plant in Fahud in central Oman, which was designed to be integrated with the LPIC project.

OGC will manage the plant and operate the 14-inch pipeline which extends for about 300 kilometres, linking the NGL extraction plant in Fahud with the LPIC in Sohar, in the north.

About 67 per cent of the $6.7bn worth LPIC project has been completed, Orpic said in its statement.

MEED has earlier reported that the LPIC project is scheduled to be completed by mid-2019.

The project will produce more than 1,000 types of plastic products that are used in different industries.

The services agreement between Orpic and OGC will be implemented over three transitional phases throughout the project’s lifecycle.

The gas liquid extraction plant is the second plant operated by OGC after the Salalah liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) plant.

OGC is also laying out a new 32-inch gas pipeline, parallel to the existing 32-inch Fuhud-Suhar pipeline, to meet growing demand at the Sohar Industrial Port and to supply the Ibri region.