Oman Petrochemicals capacity reaches 9.5 million tons in 2012

21-Jun-13

Petrochemicals production in Oman reached 9.5 mln tons in 2012, marking a year of solid growth for the region’s industry, according to the Annual Report by Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA). Now in its sixth edition, the GPCA Annual Report provides a comprehensive overview of the major developments of the GCC petrochemicals industry in each of the Gulf countries. According to the latest report, the Omani petrochemicals sector rose to 9.5 mln tons of capacity in 2012, up from 8.9 mln tons from the previous year. The country’s petrochemicals capacity is equivalent to 7.4% of the GCC’s total capacity. Oman’s petrochemical sector is the third largest in the region, behind Saudi Arabia and Qatar which account for 86.4 mln tons and 16.8 mln tons of capacity respectively. In May 2012, Oman Oil Company (OOC) and Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) formed a joint venture, the Duqm Petroleum Terminal Company (DPTC) which was established to develop a refinery and petrochemicals project in Duqm, Oman. OOC also signed a joint venture agreement with LG Chemicals International to develop a purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and poly ethylene terephthalate (PET) project in Sohar. When operational, this plant will produce up to 1.6 mln tons of polymers a year. South Korea’s Hanwha Engineering and Construction was awarded a contract to build an ethylene dicholoride (EDC) and caustic soda in Dhofar in October 2012. The project, with a capacity of 500,000 mln tons of EDC and 350,000 mln tons of caustic soda, is expected to start production in 2015.