UK-based engineering firm Wood Group has won the contract for performing the front-end engineering and design (feed) works on the planned Duqm petrochemicals complex in Oman. MEED had earlier reported that Wood was the frontrunner to bag the feed contract for the project, estimated to be worth $9bn.

Duqm Refinery & Petrochemical Industries Company (DRPIC), the 50:50 joint venture of Oman Oil Company (OOC) and Kuwait Petroleum International, is the operator of the project.

The value of the feed contract awarded to Wood could not be determined.

DRPIC says the Duqm petrochemicals project is centred on a mixed-feed steam cracker that will have a capacity to produce 1.6 million tonnes a year of ethylene.

The Duqm petrochemicals complex will include an aromatics plant and a polypropylene plant, as well as storage facilities for naphtha and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

According to a statement from DRPIC, Wood's contract covers feed works for DRPIC’s natural gas liquids (NGL) extraction facility in central Oman and a 230-kilometre pipeline that stretches from OOC’s concession areas to the petrochemicals project site in Duqm.

The selection of technology and award of the multiple licensed units for the petrochemicals complex will be completed in the early stage of the feed phase, DRPIC said.

The Duqm petrochemicals complex is scheduled to be commissioned in 2025.

The development of the NGL extraction unit and required pipeline will be led by OOC and state-owned Oman Refineries & Petrochemicals Industries Complex (Orpic).

The NGL plant will be built in concession areas in central Oman and will connect to Oman Gas Company’s gas network.

A pipeline will be constructed to transport the NGL stream from the NGL extraction plant to the petrochemicals complex, the statement added.

The petrochemicals complex is due to be integrated with DRPIC’s $7bn Duqm refinery; at the latter, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) works are currently being executed. DRPIC says work on the three EPC packages of the refinery project are about 20 per cent complete.

The Duqm refinery project is due to be completed by the end of 2022.

The petrochemicals complex will process a selection of Duqm refinery product streams, including LPG, full range naphtha, off gases and NGL, extracted from natural gas available in central Oman.

The Duqm petrochemicals project will see the introduction of new petrochemical products in Oman, such as ethylene glycols, oxo chemicals and butadiene. In addition, the project will increase the diversity of the existing petrochemicals portfolio in Oman.

According to DRPIC, the expected polyethylene and polypropylene grades produced by the Duqm petrochemicals complex will diversify and complement the current shareholder product portfolio.

DRPIC also said that the array of products that will come from the Duqm petrochemicals project will provide building blocks for a variety of value-added products. It is said these will provide a foundation for downstream derivatives units within the Duqm Special Economic Zone, Oman and beyond, and offer the potential to attract foreign direct investment and support domestic growth.

Wood Group worked closely with DRPIC on the refinery project as well. It undertook the pre-feed and feed work on the Duqm refinery project, and won the project management consultancy contract.

Wood Group is providing its patented SYDEC (selective yield delayed coking) technology for use in the Duqm refinery project.