MUSCAT - A petrochemicals park currently under early development in Salalah Free Zone, in the south of Oman, has secured gas supply commitments from the Omani government, paving the way for the project’s expeditious implementation.

Al Baleed Petrochemical, backed by private Omani interests, announced on Thursday that it had signed a Natural Gas Sales Agreement (NGSA) with the Integrated Gas Company (IGC) — the sole aggregator and supplier of natural gas in the Sultanate of Oman — covering its gas requirements as both fuel and feedstock. The agreement was signed earlier this week under the auspices of Sultan bin Salim al Habsi, Minister of Finance. Representing Al Baleed Petrochemical at the signing was Eng Saeed al Shanfari, Managing Director.

The petrochemicals park is envisaged as an integrated complex that seeks to leverage the abundance of methanol, ammonia and LPG currently produced at Salalah Free Zone for conversion into an array of high-demand chemical products.

“This agreement reinforces Al Baleed Petrochemical’s commitment to supporting Oman’s industrial and economic development, aligning with Oman Vision 2040 for energy security and sustainable growth”, the company said in a statement. It marks “an important step forward in securing a sustainable and reliable gas supply for the industrial sector”, it added.

The Gas Sales Agreement represents the latest in a series of project milestones laying the groundwork for the park’s development. Earlier this year, the project promoters engaged Japan’s Morimatsu, a specialist in the design and manufacture of industrial process equipment, to undertake the basic and detailed engineering design of the petrochemicals park.

Conceived as a hub of modularised process units, the complex will include a first-of-its-kind Propane Dehydrogenation (PDH) plant utilising locally produced LPG as feedstock. Last December, Lummus USA, a leading licensor of proprietary process technologies, was commissioned to undertake the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) study for the project.

Earlier, Conser, an Italian technology licensor, was selected to support the development of a petrochemical unit dedicated to the manufacture of maleic anhydride — a key intermediate in the production of biodegradable plastics.

Conser, a majority-owned subsidiary of Italy-based sustainable solutions group MAIRE, said the contract covers technology licensing, the process design package and catalyst supply for a 50,000-tonnes-per-annum (tpa) capacity plant.

Also planned for implementation in Phase 1 of the three-stage petrochemicals park project are production units for Formic Acid (85 per cent), Acetic Acid and Hydrogen Peroxide (35 per cent) and (50 per cent).

More recently, Al Baleed Petrochemical revealed that it is in discussion with OQ Base Industries (OQBI) — a subsidiary of OQ Group — for the long-term supply and security of critical feedstocks, including methanol, LPG and ammonia from OQBI’s integrated complex, also located in Salalah Free Zone. OQBI owns and operates a trio of advanced plants with a combined nameplate capacity of 1.816 million tonnes per annum.

According to Al Baleed, the petrochemicals park aims to reduce Oman’s reliance on imports of industrial chemicals while simultaneously enhancing export potential for high-value petrochemical products.

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