OMAN - Oman Polypropylene.

SRC's propylene will feed a 340,000 t/y polypropylene plant being built at the refinery complex as a JV, OPP, with OOC holding 60% and each of ABB Lummus and LG Int'l of South Korea having 20%. The $225m plant should be on stream later in 2006.

The latter two partners have the EPC contract and will run the PP plant. Financing has been arranged, with OAPEC's investment arm Apicorp having acted as financial adviser. ABB and LG will market the PP, mainly in Asia. The EPC contractor is a consortium led by LG Engineering and Construction.

Industrial Gas JV: Under a JV agreement signed in Muscat on May 28, 2005, ORC and the industrial gases giant Air Liquide of France to create Air Liquide Sohar Industrial Gases LLC (Alsig). The local Mohsin Haider Darwish LLC (MHD) and Omar Zawawi Establishment (Omzest) are partners in this.

Alsig is envisaged as a state-of-the-art unit with an initial capacity to manufacture 200 t/d of nitrogen. In later phases, the plant will be upgraded to produce oxygen and other industrial gases, depending on demand by industries located within the Sohar Industrial Port complex. Air Liquide, which has 50.1% in Alsig, is a world leader in industrial and medical gases and related services. ORC has 29.9%, while MHD and Omzest have 10% each.

Alsig has obtained a concession from SIPC, which manages the port and industrial zone, to exclusively supply industrial gases to firms operating within the zone. At the signing ceremony, ORC inked an agreement to lift the new plant's initial output of nitrogen, which is destined for the Sohar refinery and associated OPP projects. Further offtake agreements are expected to be signed in the future as new industrial gas-dependent industries progressively come on stream at Sohar. Work on the plant began in October 2005. The plant is to be operational by April 1, 2006, when deliveries of nitrogen is due to start. The gas will be supplied by pipeline to the consumers. A total investment of around $10m is envisaged in the first phase.