Oman’s Takamul Investment Company plans a new project to build an ammonia plant in the sultanate’s southern industrial hub of Salalah, according to local reports.

The company will undergo the project in partnership with its parent group Oman Oil Company (OOC) with the scheme aimed at processing chemicals produced by Salalah Methanol Company.

Takamul’s general manager for commercial and business development, Gilles Desorbay, told Muscat Daily the front-end engineering and design phase will be completed in early 2015.

“The project is valued at several hundred million dollars and an investment decision is likely to be made in early 2015,” the newspaper quoted Desorbay as saying.

Ammonia is largely used to produce nitrogen-based fertilisers, cleaning chemicals and for fermentation.

Takamul also plans to build a metaxylene/purified isophthalic acid plant in Sohar, northern Oman, with the feed phase expected to be completed by the end of 2014.

The facility is planned to have a capacity of 100,000 tonnes a year (t/y) of purified isophthalic acid (PIA). It will complement the purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) project being planned by OOC in Sohar. PIA is mixed with PTA in the production of PET, which is used to make plastic drinks bottles.