Study on Oman’s Duqm petrochemical complex to be completed in 2025

Jonathan Yee

16-Dec-2024

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–A feasibility study for a joint venture petrochemical complex in the Duqm Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Oman will be completed in 2025, an official from Oman’s national oil and gas company OQ told ICIS.

The proposed project is a joint venture between OQ, Saudi Arabia’s SABIC and Kuwait Petroleum International (KPI).

“We are trying to maximize the value of hydrocarbons in Oman,” OQ’s vice president for business development Sultan Al Burtamani said in an interview with ICIS.

“We are studying this project together with our other partners, and hopefully in the coming months we’ll get clarity on how we will be moving the project to the next stage,” Al Burtamani said.

The OQ8 Duqm refinery, which became operational in 2024 and cost $9 billion to build, has a capacity of 230,000 barrels per day.

The Duqm Petrochemical Complex, when built, will be located close to the Duqm Refinery, which is operated by OQ8, which is an existing joint venture between OQ and KPI.

The project will draw feedstock primarily from the refinery.

Oman, as with other Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, is looking to diversify away from oil and gas production, which accounts for over half of the nation’s GDP.

“We are studying what could make a commercial competitiveness for us in the petrochemical space, [perhaps] related to the cracker business, that we are thinking of expanding,” Al Burtamani said.

“We are trying to develop Duqm as another industrial hub, which is what we did in (the port cities of) Sohar, Sur, and Salalah (in Dhofar).”

Al Burtamani added that Duqm is an attractive location as it has direct access to the Indian Ocean.

Duqm is in the southeast Al Wusta Governorate of Oman and is in the path of international shipping lines in the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea.

At the recently concluded Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) Forum in Muscat, Oman, OQ chairman Mulham Basheer Al Jarf said that a privatization program for the state-run company, which includes the listing of its chemicals arm OQ Base Industries (OQBI), forms part of Oman’s 2040 Vision plan to diversify its economy.

OQBI launched an initial public offering (IPO) on 24 November, with 49% of the total shared capital of the company offered at 111 baizas per share or a total of Omani rial (OR) 384 million ($1 billion).

The company started trading on the Muscat Stock Exchange on 15 December.

OQBI produces methanol, ammonia, propane, butane, condensate and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in a facility in Salalah.

Interview article by Jonathan Yee

($1 = OR0.384829)

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