An increasing number of companies are looking to use the new cargo terminal and liquid jetty currently under construction at Oman’s Salalah Port.

Statw-owned Oman Gas is said to be considering whether to use the port for its exports, according to a source. The company is in the early stages of assessing the potential to ship liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) products from the terminal, pending a completion of a feasibility study.

The Oman-based petrochemicals company Saltic is another firm that has already stated its interest in using the port facilities to import ethylene imports and using the cargo terminal to export caustic soda.

The firm began construction of its new caustic soda and ethylene dichloride plant in February in the adjacent Salalah freezone. The project is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2014.

Other companies looking to use the planned port facilities include Salalah Methanol Company and Muscat-based Octal Petrochemicals, both of which have production plants within the freezone.

The new port facilities are under construction, following the awarding of the contract to Hani Archirodon Construction in June last year.

The project will see the terminal’s cargo handling capacity raised from 6.5 million tonnes a year (t/y) to 20 million t/y of dry bulk commodities. The project is on target to be completed by the end of this year.