Bahrain's Mashael Group to Develop Port of Sohar's First Bitumen Refinery

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Late last month, Mashael Group (Manama, Bahrain), an energy and property development firm, and Oman's Port of Sohar signed an agreement to develop the region's first specialized bitumen refinery in the Port of Sohar. The agreement was signed by the owner of Mashael Group, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, and Oman's Minister of Industry and Commerce, Maqbool Ali Sultan. The latter is also the Chairman of Sohar Industrial Port Company SAOC (Sohar, Oman).

Work on the $200 million project is scheduled to commence by the end of 2009, and the refinery is scheduled to be ready for operations by 2012. The bitumen refinery is being designed to have a capacity of 30,000 barrels per day and will produce up to 1 million tons per year of bitumen. The latest technologies will be used to develop the one-stop bitumen supply center. The refinery intends to target the bitumen market, with 20% of the production being earmarked for the domestic market of Oman.

The Mashael Group has a commercial presence in the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. The group's energy business has been primarily concerned with the production and trading of petroleum products, but the company is now diversifying into refining, production of biofuels and other upstream activities. In the property development sector, the group specializes in the construction and development of affordable housing and has completed several projects in Ghana, Malaysia, Mali and Senegal. The group is now exploring the markets of Bahrain and other Middle Eastern nations.

The Industrial Port of Sohar is a 50:50 joint venture between the Port of Rotterdam Authority (Rotterdam, Netherlands) and the government of the Sultanate of Oman. The port is managed by Sohar Industrial Port Company. The port has been selected for the bitumen refinery project because of its infrastructure and development plan. According to Bryan Chen, Executive Director of Mashael Group, the port's infrastructure is the best in the region. Furthermore, the port is located in the center of the Mashael Group's target market, which is another key reason for the selection of the port. In Chen's opinion, the refinery will use the most modern technology and will produce all the standard grades of bitumen.

The Industrial Port of Sohar was opened in 2003 and currently houses projects worth more than $12 billion. The port has three divisions: logistics, metals and petrochemicals. It is one of the world's largest port development projects and has been favored by some of the leading companies of the world.

Of all the bitumen produced globally, 90% is utilized in road construction, while the remaining 10% is consumed by the industrial sector. The airtight and watertight properties of bitumen along with its flexibility and binding properties make it an excellent roofing and waterproofing material. It is commonly applied as mastic asphalt for flooring, paving, roofing, and tanking. The vibration absorption capacity of bitumen and its insulating properties make it suitable for utilization in the thermal and acoustic insulation of buildings. Bitumen's sound-deadening qualities make it an excellent material for sound insulation in automobile and electrical appliances. Bitumen is part of the composition of paints and varnishes because of its anti-humidity and anti-corrosion properties. It is used as a protective casing for electrical cables and pipes and is also used to contain several types of waste, including nuclear waste.

According to data available from 2005, the consumption of bitumen for non-energy purposes in the Middle Eastern nations was more than 3 million tons, with Turkey and Saudi Arabia being the largest consumers.

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