Muscat - Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Co (Orpic) on Monday announced the completion of its shutdown, known as a 'turnaround,' which involves three-yearly full maintenance programmes at its Sohar refinery and polypropylene plant.
According to a press release, the activities that took place during the turnaround have established a solid platform for the Sohar refinery improvement project and emissions reduction project, as planned since 2011.
Orpic's manager of environment services, Hamed al Rumhi, said that the start-up activities, which will commence on April 26, will last for approximately two weeks.
"For the first seven days of the start-up, one can expect to see intermittent flaring at the refinery with some noise, limited emissions as we inject crude oil into the refinery and a slight odour from the waste-water treatment plant due to biological treatment and stabilisation."
The March 11 fire at the refinery left the secondary wet gas scrubber unit damaged. The unit is currently being rebuilt and is expected to be back in operation by mid-August. In collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs, the company has taken several measures to reduce air emissions to arrive at the same level as during the first half of 2012.
"We plan to keep the public updated on any new developments at Orpic as well as the progress of the plants resuming normal operations," added Rumhi.
The turnaround has not impacted Oman's fuel demand as Orpic had made the necessary arrangements to meet the domestic fuel demand at all three of its supply locations - Sohar, Muscat and Salalah - during this scheduled shutdown.
© Muscat Daily 2013
