Foundation stone for Salalah Ammonia Plant to be laid on Monday

Salalah: Oman Oil Company (OOC) will celebrate the laying of the foundation stone for the Salalah Ammonia Plant and Salalah Liquefied Petroleum Gas (SLPG) on Monday in the Governorate of Dhofar. These are strategically important projects for the development of the industrial sector and to enhance the economic diversification plans in the Sultanate.

The celebration will be held under the auspices of Dr Mohammed bin Hamad Al Rumhy, Minister of Oil and Gas, Chairman of OOC.

SLPG will cost US$826 million, and will be developed on approximately 20 hectares of land within the Salalah Free Zone. Liquefied Petroleum gas (LPG) and condensate storage facilities will be built at the Port of Salalah nearby, on approximately 8 hectares.

The project, which has LPG extraction facilities at Salalah Free Zone, is developed by Oman Gas Company, the pivotal company in midstream for OOC. Petrofac of UK will implement the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) works.

The main LPG extraction plant will offer a processing capacity of around 8.8 million standard cubic metres per day. The plant will have local LPG truck loading facilities catering to domestic, industrial and commercial demand in the Governorate of Dhofar. Together with a dedicated export jetty, Salalah Port will become an international LPG and condensate export hub beginning 2020, when the project is fully operational.

The estimated cost for the “Ammonia Project”, supervised by Salalah Methanol Company, a subsidiary of OOC, is $463 million. The project will stretch over 12 hectares at Salalah free zone. It will include facilities for production, storing and exporting the products of the ammonia plant. The construction works are expected to be completed by 2020.

The plant will manufacture 1,000 metric tonnes of ammonia per day. The plant will enhance the sustainability and increase profitability, and diversify the company’s product portfolio, through targeting its main markets in India, Vietnam, Thailand, South Korea and Japan.

The project is expected to pave the way for future opportunities to develop the processing industries. The two projects come within the OOC growth strategy, which seeks to enhance added value in the oil and gas and petrochemical sectors.