Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (Orpic) has signed a $2.8bn loan to support the upgrade of its Sohar refinery.

A total of 21 local, regional and international banks participated in the facility, including a number of export credit agencies (ECAs). It is one of the largest financings signed in Oman to-date.

A total of six local banks participated in the transaction. The Korean ECAs Kexim and KSure and Italy’s Sace also took part in the deal.

As reported by MEED, banks submitted financial bids in January. The UK’s HSBC and the National Bank of Oman acted as financial advisers on the transaction, having been appointed to the role in June 2012.  

The Sohar Refinery Improvement Project will help Orpic meet the growing demand for refined products. The expansion will also increase production of liquefied petroleum gas, naphtha, jet fuel, gasoline, diesel and propylene to meet growing local demand.

The refinery was originally built in 2006, but Orpic is now looking to increase the facility’s production capacity to 187,000 barrels a day (b/d) from 116,000b/d.

A joint venture between the UK’s Petrofac and the Korean firm Daelim Industrial Company was awarded a 36-month engineering, procurement and construction contract for the refinery expansion in November last year.

The following banks and ECAs took part in the financing:

• Bank Muscat
• National Bank of Oman
• Al Ahli Bank
• Bank Dhofar
• Bank Sohar
• Oman Arab Bank
• Sace (Italy)
• Kexim and KSure (South Korea)
• HSBC (UK)
• SMBC (Japan)
• KfW IPEX (Germany)
• Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank
• Qatar National Bank
• The Saudi National Commercial Bank
• National Bank of Abu Dhabi
• Standard Chartered Bank
• Arab Banking Corporation (Bahrain)
• Arab Petroleum Investment Corporation
• Ahli United Bank (Bahrain)
• Arab Bank (Jordan)