Duqm Refinery awards FEED contract

Muscat: Duqm Refinery and Petrochemicals Industries Company (DRPIC) has announced the award for the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) work to commence for its petrochemicals complex to Wood UK.
The FEED services include also the natural gas liquids (NGL) extraction facility in central Oman and the 230km pipeline from concession areas to the Petrochemicals complex in Duqm that falls under Oman Oil and Orpic scope. Technology selection and award of the multiple licensed units for the petrochemical complex will complete in the early stage of FEED.
Dr Salim Al Huthaili, Chief Executive Officer of DRPIC, said: “The award of FEED contracts came after a rigorous competitive tendering process. This key milestone will enable Duqm Refinery to maximise the value of the refinery products and enhance its market competitiveness. This project is our further contribution to the Omani economy and will allow us to deliver against our strategic objective to ensure a sustainable and economic prosperity for both Oman and our shareholders.”
The Duqm Petrochemical Project (DPP) is the second stage of the integrated refinery and petrochemical complex planned by Duqm Refinery which comes as part of the strategic partnership between Oman Oil Company and Kuwait Petroleum International. The project will be located in the Special Economic Zone in Duqm (Sezad) exploiting the established infrastructure and facilities in the zone.
Oman Oil and Orpic will take lead in developing the NGL extraction unit and required pipeline. NGLplant will be located in the concession areas in central Oman and connected with OGC’s gas network. A pipeline will be constructed to transport NGL stream from the NGL extraction plant to the petrochemical complex.
At the centre of the project is a mixed-feed Steam Cracker with a capacity of1,600 KTPA ethylene processing selected Duqm Refinery product streams; Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), Full Range Naphtha (FRN), off gases and Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) extracted from natural gas available in Central Oman.
The project proposes to produce new products for the first time in Oman such as Ethylene Glycols, Oxo Chemicals, Butadiene and increase the diversity of the existing petrochemical portfolio in Oman. The expected polyethylene and polypropylene grades produced by DPP would both differentiate and complement the current shareholder product portfolio.
The diverse DPP products provide building blocks for a vast variety of value-added products, which in turn provide a foundation for downstream industries/projects within Sezad, Oman and beyond, offering the potential to attract foreign direct investment and support domestic growth.
Construction work of the Duqm Refinery project is progressing steadily across all three engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) packages with project progress estimated at nearly 20 per cent complete.