09 June 2015
MUSCAT: The Sultanate's gas transportation flagship, Oman Gas Company, says it plans to hammer out a new agreement with the Omani government on the tariff governing the cost of transporting natural gas to its expanding portfolio of customers across the country.
The move, according to a top official of the state-owned utility, is part of a raft of substantive initiatives lined up for implementation through to 2020. It includes investments in new gas transportation infrastructure, as well as OGC's first large-scale foray into the midstream energy and downstream petrochemicals sector.
"Our outlook over the next five years focuses on reaching an agreement with (Oman's) government on a new tariff system in 2015, the award of (an Engineering-Procurement-Construction contract) for Al Duqm (pipeline) in 2015, award of Salalah LPG (Engineering-Procurement-Construction) in 2016 and commissioning of Al Duqm pipeline and Salalah LPG in 2018," OGC's Acting CEO Abdulaziz bin Said al Mujaibi (pictured) stated in the company's newly issued Annual Report for 2014.
The revised tariff system sought by OGC comes against a backdrop of soaring demand for natural gas as a fuel resource and industrial feedstock. In 2014, the utility delivered 16.18 billion cubic metres of natural gas to its expanding customer base, comprising a mix of power and water desalination plants, industrial and petrochemical schemes, refineries, steel mills, industrial parks, cement factors and oil companies.
Consumption was up 5.5 per cent in comparison with figures for 2013. Gas delivery averaged 44.33 million cubic metres per day, spiking to an all-new record of 53.79 million cubic metres on July 21, 2014, according to the company.
OGC delivers gas to its customers via a massive pipeline network extending some 2,500 kilometres across the length and breadth of the Sultanate. Customers tap into the network at 46 take-off points -- a figure poised to rise as new consumers join its customer base.
Looking back on OGC's performance during 2014, the Acting CEO said the company had initiated work on a number of key ventures. Notable was the award of a contract for the manufacture of pipes for a gas pipeline that will supply energy to the Duqm Special Economic Zone (SEZ).
Another landmark project set to make headway during the course of 2015 is the Salalah LPG Extraction scheme, which is currently in the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) stage. Plans drawn up by OGC envisage a state-of-the-art facility that will extract the different components of LPG -- chiefly propane (C3), butane (C4) and light condensate (C5) -- from natural gas flowing through the utility's southern grid. At full capacity, the plant is expected to produce 153,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of propane, 115,000 tpa of butane and 59,000 tpa of condensate.
Underlining the LPG project's potential to spawn further downstream investments in Oman, Al Mujaibi welcomed efforts by Oman Oil Company Group (OGC's parent organisation) and other private investors in evaluating opportunities that could arise from the LPG product to feedstock other projects -- ventures that will contribute to industrial growth and skilled employment opportunities, he noted.
"Equally important is ORPIC's NGL (natural gas liquids) extraction project at Fahud for which OGC is providing its technical support for the FEED work, and planning to continue this support through the project lifecycle," the Acting CEO stated.
Also during the course of 2014, OGC undertook several concept engineering studies that will enable a number of new customers to be added to the utility's gas supply system. Projects lined up for eventual integration with the OGC network are the Ibri power scheme, Sohar-3 power plant, Salalah-2 power plant, and the Purified Isophthalic Acid (PIA) and PTA/PET projects at Sohar Port.
MUSCAT: The Sultanate's gas transportation flagship, Oman Gas Company, says it plans to hammer out a new agreement with the Omani government on the tariff governing the cost of transporting natural gas to its expanding portfolio of customers across the country.
The move, according to a top official of the state-owned utility, is part of a raft of substantive initiatives lined up for implementation through to 2020. It includes investments in new gas transportation infrastructure, as well as OGC's first large-scale foray into the midstream energy and downstream petrochemicals sector.
"Our outlook over the next five years focuses on reaching an agreement with (Oman's) government on a new tariff system in 2015, the award of (an Engineering-Procurement-Construction contract) for Al Duqm (pipeline) in 2015, award of Salalah LPG (Engineering-Procurement-Construction) in 2016 and commissioning of Al Duqm pipeline and Salalah LPG in 2018," OGC's Acting CEO Abdulaziz bin Said al Mujaibi (pictured) stated in the company's newly issued Annual Report for 2014.
The revised tariff system sought by OGC comes against a backdrop of soaring demand for natural gas as a fuel resource and industrial feedstock. In 2014, the utility delivered 16.18 billion cubic metres of natural gas to its expanding customer base, comprising a mix of power and water desalination plants, industrial and petrochemical schemes, refineries, steel mills, industrial parks, cement factors and oil companies.
Consumption was up 5.5 per cent in comparison with figures for 2013. Gas delivery averaged 44.33 million cubic metres per day, spiking to an all-new record of 53.79 million cubic metres on July 21, 2014, according to the company.
OGC delivers gas to its customers via a massive pipeline network extending some 2,500 kilometres across the length and breadth of the Sultanate. Customers tap into the network at 46 take-off points -- a figure poised to rise as new consumers join its customer base.
Looking back on OGC's performance during 2014, the Acting CEO said the company had initiated work on a number of key ventures. Notable was the award of a contract for the manufacture of pipes for a gas pipeline that will supply energy to the Duqm Special Economic Zone (SEZ).
Another landmark project set to make headway during the course of 2015 is the Salalah LPG Extraction scheme, which is currently in the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) stage. Plans drawn up by OGC envisage a state-of-the-art facility that will extract the different components of LPG -- chiefly propane (C3), butane (C4) and light condensate (C5) -- from natural gas flowing through the utility's southern grid. At full capacity, the plant is expected to produce 153,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of propane, 115,000 tpa of butane and 59,000 tpa of condensate.
Underlining the LPG project's potential to spawn further downstream investments in Oman, Al Mujaibi welcomed efforts by Oman Oil Company Group (OGC's parent organisation) and other private investors in evaluating opportunities that could arise from the LPG product to feedstock other projects -- ventures that will contribute to industrial growth and skilled employment opportunities, he noted.
"Equally important is ORPIC's NGL (natural gas liquids) extraction project at Fahud for which OGC is providing its technical support for the FEED work, and planning to continue this support through the project lifecycle," the Acting CEO stated.
Also during the course of 2014, OGC undertook several concept engineering studies that will enable a number of new customers to be added to the utility's gas supply system. Projects lined up for eventual integration with the OGC network are the Ibri power scheme, Sohar-3 power plant, Salalah-2 power plant, and the Purified Isophthalic Acid (PIA) and PTA/PET projects at Sohar Port.
© Oman Daily Observer 2015
