Orpic awards contracts worth US$80 mln for NGL Extraction, PyGas Hydrogenation, MTBE, PP, PE units

Orpic's (Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company) US$3.6 bln Liwa Plastic Project (LPP) has announced awarding five technology licensor contracts valued at around US$80 mln. The contracts relate to various LPP units, namely, NGL Extraction, PyGas Hydrogenation, MTBE, Polypropylene, and Polyethylene, as per Times of Oman. Liwa Plastic Project is a steam cracker project, which will process light ends produced in Orpic's Sohar Refinery and its aromatics plant as well as optimise Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs) extracted from currently available natural gas supplies. Thus, the technology contracts awarded are of paramount importance for the different stages of the project's production processes and were a result of competent bidding and selection process. The NGL extraction technology will be provided by Randall and put to use in a natural gas extraction plant located in Fahud. The plant will send its products through a 300km pipeline between Fahud and Sohar Industrial Port. The NGL extraction process involves the stripping of some components from rich natural gas in order for them to be used as feedstock for the plastics production process. The technology for the PyGas Hydrogenation unit is going to be provided by Axens. This unit is designed to produce a number of high-value components, such as isoprene, benzene, toluene and xylenes. CB & I have been chosen as the licensor of the MTBE producing unit. MTBE (Methyl tert-butyl ether) is used as an additive in gasoline to reduce engine 'knocking'. A licensor contract has also been awarded to Basell Poliolefine who will be providing the technological requirement for the Polypropylene unit. This is a single bulk polymerization line that is based on the LyondellBasell proprietary Spheripol process. In addition, Univation will be the technology provider for polyethylene unit. Polyethylene is currently the form of plastic most in demand in the global marketplace. It will be a new two line polymerization and will produce components that are used by customers for the production of films and parts. As with polypropylene, the polyethylene will be available in pellet form in 25 kg bags, big bags and in bulk. Earlier this year the LPP awarded two major contracts for PMC and FEED. The PMC contract was awarded to New Delhi, India-based Engineers India Limited (EIL). The FEED and Steam Cracking technology contract was awarded to Chicago Bridge and Iron Co (CB & I) which operates out of The Hague, Netherlands.