CB&I to complete ORPIC Liwa Plastics project FEED
The engineering company CB&I is about to complete the front end engineering and design (FEED) of the petrochemical complex planned by the state-owned Oman Refinery and Petroleum Industries Company (ORPIC) in Al-Liwa, near by Sohar in the north of Oman.
As all the other countries in the Gulf, the Sultanate is looking for building up added value locally in integrating more and more downstream transformations.
With the Liwa Plastics project, Oman is posting its intention to prepare ground for the development of the manufacturing industry.
To be connected to the Sohar refinery, the Liwa Plastics project will multiply the domestic production seven times to reach 1.4 million tonnes in 2018.
Budgeted to $3.6 billion capital expenditure, the Liwa Plastics project covers three main parts:
– Fahud gas field production
– 300 kilometers export pipeline to Sohar
– Al-Liwa petrochemical complex
Benefiting from parallel supply in gas from Fahud and in naphtha from the Sohar refinery, ORPIC and CB&I selected a mixed steam cracker to produce ethylene, propylene, by-products and derivatives.
With a capacity of 800,000 tonnes per year (t/y) of ethylene, this mixed cracker will produce:
– 300,000 t/y of high density polyethylene (HDPE)
– 500,000 t/y of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE)
– 215,000 t/y of polypropylene
– 40,000 t/y of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE)
– 45,000 t/y of Butane-1
ORPIC considers three options for Liwa Plastics EPC
ORPIC is currently working on the different scenari to organize the call for tender to sanction Liwa Plastics engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract.
The first option is to launch only one bid for the whole Liwa Plastics project EPC contract
The second option is break up the Liwa Plastics project in three EPC contracts for the:
– Mixed steam cracker with offsites and utilities
– Polyethylene and polypropylene units with offsites and utilities
– Natural gas liquids (NGL) separation with offsites and utilities
The third option is considering six EPC packages covering:
– Polyethylene units
– Polypropylene unit
– NGL separation
– NGL pipeline
– Offsites and utilities
In parallel to this evaluation, ORPIC is proceeding to the pre-qualification of the potential bidders for these different packages.
Depending on the potential bidders response ORPIC will select the best scenario to call for tender the Liwa Plastics project on early 2015 in expecting the first production by 2019.