Oman’s ORPC sells first light naphtha cargo from new petrochemical plant

14-Sep-09

Oman Refineries and Petrochemicals Co. (ORPC) has sold its first light naphtha cargo from its new petrochemical plant to Vitol at a small premium. The cargo of 30,000 cubic meters of the light fuel for prompt Sept. 14-16 loading from Sohar was sold to a Western trader at a premium of US$2-4/ton to Middle East spot quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis. The plant, with a nameplate capacity of nearly 820,000 tpa of paraxylene and 210,000 tpa of benzene- could not secure the desired amount of full-range naphtha from Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC). Hence it is running at aver 30% of its nameplate capacity, using heavy naphtha from ORPC.