13 July 2015
MUSCAT: Austrian engineering specialist Pörner Group says it has been contracted by Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (Orpic), the Sultanate's refining and petrochemicals flagship, to provide the technology behind a major bitumen production unit envisioned as part of the multi-billion dollar Sohar Refinery Improvement Project (SRIP) under way at Sohar Port.
Vienna-headquartered Pörner Group revealed it will supply its proprietary Biturox technology to enable the Sultanate to become a producer of bitumen for the first time in the country's history. Oman has been entirely dependent on imports, primarily from neighbouring Iran and the United Arab Emirates, for its requirements of bitumen which is used for, among other things, asphalting in road construction projects.
Imports of bitumen have burgeoned on the back of escalating investments in road construction and related infrastructure programmes.
Pörner Group says it will support the construction of a bitumen unit featuring a pair of reactors each with a capacity to produce 516 tonnes per day (tpd) of bitumen. This equates to an installed capacity of around 300,000 tonnes per annum, which should go a long way in meeting a substantial chunk of Oman's yearly requirement of bitumen, particularly for road asphalting purposes. In addition to supplying the licence and basic engineering, Pörner Group will also undertake the detailed engineering, pilot testing and commissioning of the new Biturox unit. Additional assistance will be rendered in the form of start-up support, documentation and training, it said.
The Pörner Group is acknowledged as a global leader in the licensing of technology that enables refineries to produce high quality bitumen from a wide range of crudes and intermedia refinery feedstock.
More than 40 Biturox-based bitumen units are currently in operation around the world, according to the Group.
A joint venture of Daelim Industrial and Petrofac International is currently executing the expansion and modernisation of Orpic's Sohar Refinery. Upon completion by end-2016, the upgraded complex will feature five new units: Vacuum Distillation Unit, Hydro-Cracker Unit, Delayed Coker Unit, Isomerization Unit, and Bitumen Blowing Unit.
The upgrade will also enable Orpic to meet the domestic growing needs for gasoline in the near and far future. The new units will add a further 82,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Oman Export Blend crude oil processing capacity to the existing refinery to achieve a total refining capacity of 198,000 bpd. Crude throughput of the refinery will increase by 70 per cent with increased product yields for diesel (90 per cent), gasoline (37 per cent), Jet Fuel (93 per cent), LPG (91 per cent), Naphtha (175 per cent) and Propylene (44 per cent).
MUSCAT: Austrian engineering specialist Pörner Group says it has been contracted by Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (Orpic), the Sultanate's refining and petrochemicals flagship, to provide the technology behind a major bitumen production unit envisioned as part of the multi-billion dollar Sohar Refinery Improvement Project (SRIP) under way at Sohar Port.
Vienna-headquartered Pörner Group revealed it will supply its proprietary Biturox technology to enable the Sultanate to become a producer of bitumen for the first time in the country's history. Oman has been entirely dependent on imports, primarily from neighbouring Iran and the United Arab Emirates, for its requirements of bitumen which is used for, among other things, asphalting in road construction projects.
Imports of bitumen have burgeoned on the back of escalating investments in road construction and related infrastructure programmes.
Pörner Group says it will support the construction of a bitumen unit featuring a pair of reactors each with a capacity to produce 516 tonnes per day (tpd) of bitumen. This equates to an installed capacity of around 300,000 tonnes per annum, which should go a long way in meeting a substantial chunk of Oman's yearly requirement of bitumen, particularly for road asphalting purposes. In addition to supplying the licence and basic engineering, Pörner Group will also undertake the detailed engineering, pilot testing and commissioning of the new Biturox unit. Additional assistance will be rendered in the form of start-up support, documentation and training, it said.
The Pörner Group is acknowledged as a global leader in the licensing of technology that enables refineries to produce high quality bitumen from a wide range of crudes and intermedia refinery feedstock.
More than 40 Biturox-based bitumen units are currently in operation around the world, according to the Group.
A joint venture of Daelim Industrial and Petrofac International is currently executing the expansion and modernisation of Orpic's Sohar Refinery. Upon completion by end-2016, the upgraded complex will feature five new units: Vacuum Distillation Unit, Hydro-Cracker Unit, Delayed Coker Unit, Isomerization Unit, and Bitumen Blowing Unit.
The upgrade will also enable Orpic to meet the domestic growing needs for gasoline in the near and far future. The new units will add a further 82,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Oman Export Blend crude oil processing capacity to the existing refinery to achieve a total refining capacity of 198,000 bpd. Crude throughput of the refinery will increase by 70 per cent with increased product yields for diesel (90 per cent), gasoline (37 per cent), Jet Fuel (93 per cent), LPG (91 per cent), Naphtha (175 per cent) and Propylene (44 per cent).
© Oman Daily Observer 2015
