Posco Engineering and Construction Company has emerged as the frontrunner for the engineering and procurement contract for Sohar purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant, according to sources familiar with the project.

Posco was one of two South Korean firms, the other being Hyundai Engineering and Construction, to submit bids on the Oman International Petrochemical Industry Company (Ompet)-operated project.

The PTA plant is being developed in conjunction with the a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plant by Oman Oil Company (OOC) as part of an $850m petrochemical project to produce a total of 1.1 million tonnes of PTA and 500,000 tonnes of PET annually. Both plants will receive feedstock from the nearby Sohar refinery.

Australia’s WorleyParsons won the project management contract for both PET and PTA plants. The PET project has yet to be tendered. Hyundai Engineering & Construction will not bid for the PET project, according to a source.

Technology for the PTA plant will be supplied by UK-based energy group BP, while German firm Uhde Inventa-Fischer is the technology provider on the PET plant.

Ompet is fifty per cent owned by OOC, with equity stakes from South Korea’s LG International (30 per cent) and Oman’s Takamul Investment Company (20 per cent).