Oman's Orpic Speeds Up $1.2 Billion Expansion Drive for Sohar Refinery Project

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--In the advent of increasing product demand, Oman's major refiner Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (Orpic) has rolled out a massive expansion drive at its Sohar Refinery complex, located near the capital city of Muscat. The $1.2 billion upgrade and expansion program will increase production of feedstock and byproducts for the other petrochemical units in the complex.

Recently, Orpic completed the front-end engineering design (FEED) work, which was awarded to CB&I Lummus earlier this year. The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract is expected to be floated in 2012, culminating in the commissioning and on-stream operations of the refinery units in 2016. Reputed international EPC contractors were invited for pre-qualification in May 2011. The shortlisted bidders will be invited to participate in the EPC contract bid in 2012.

The project will increase the capacity of the existing refinery from 116,000 to 187,000 barrels per day by installation of clean fuel units, along with debottlenecking of existing units.

The new expansion, supported by the government of Oman, is expected to improve product quality and increase output more than 70%.The upgrade will allow Sohar refinery to provide Aromatics Oman LLC with naphtha feedstock at the desired specifications and will enable Orpic to meet its supply commitments of propylene to Oman Polypropylene.

In addition, the expansion will also cater to current and future domestic demand by increasing the production volume of gasoline and diesel, along with high volumes of bitumen.

The Sohar refinery, which was commissioned in 2006, was built to process the feedstock of long residue that is produced at the Mina Al-Fahal refinery in Oman and blended with crude oil.

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