$6.7 billion Liwa Plastics project on track for 2020 completion

SUHAR, SEPT 23 - Orpic, the nation’s refining and petrochemicals flagship, has revealed that Oman’s most anticipated transformational project, Liwa Plastics Industries Complex (LPIC), is currently 67 per cent complete across all four of its Engineering-Procurement-Construction (EPC) packages. The project is set to improve Orpic’s product mix and business model, double its profit and support the development of a downstream plastics industry in Oman. Taking advantage of the growing global market for plastics, LPIC will create new business opportunities and employment in Oman, and firmly reinforce Orpic as a significant player in the international petrochemicals marketplace as it will bring new business development opportunities for the Sultanate in the fast-growing plastics industry. Construction is ongoing and is expected to be completed by 2020, said Orpic in a statement. LPIC achieved 31 million LTI-free man-hours out of 47 million man-hours spent since the project was kicked off. The overall cumulative progress achieved was 67.8 per cent against the revised plan of 69.8 per cent till June 2018. With a total investment of $6.7 billion, LPIC is expected to boost Orpic’s contribution to develop In Country Value (ICV) for the national economy. “With the global market for plastics growing, the Liwa Plastics Industries Complex will firmly reinforce Orpic as a recognized player in the international petrochemicals marketplace – enabling Oman, for the first time, to produce polyethylene, the form of plastic that rates highest in terms of global demand and increased the current production of polypropylene,” the state-owned entity said. Liwa Plastics Industries Complex consists of a gas extraction plant in Fahud, a 300-km pipeline from Fahud to Suhar, steam cracker plant, and polymers plant in Suhar Industrial area. The steam cracker plant will process light ends produced in Orpic’s plants in Suhar as well as rich gas received from Fahud plant. Its concept lies in rerouting high value elements of existing production streams, in combination with additional purchased feedstocks to deliver high value polymer products for the local and international marketplaces. The primary goal of Liwa Plastics Industries Complex is to further increase the value-added that can be derived from Omani crude oil and natural gas. The project has six core components to it: 1) A natural gas extraction plant in Fahud, 2) 300km pipeline between Fahud and Suhar Industrial Port Area for gas transportation, 3) An 800+kTA Steam Cracker Unit, 4) An HDPE Plant, 5) A LLDPE Plant and 6) A Polypropylene Plant Following commissioning, plastics production is forecast to have increased by more than 1 million tonnes, giving Orpic a total of 1.4 million tonnes of polyethylene and polypropylene production. With the highly integrated complex in Suhar including the refineries, aromatics plant, steam cracker and the downstream polypropylene and polyethylene plants, the operation will be one of the best integrated refinery and petrochemical facility combinations in the world. The project is on schedule for completion in 2020. About $1.5 billion of the total project, cost is allocated to support ICV. The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) works lasting for 4 years until the launch of the project in 2020 will lead to a great addition to the ICV platform across the Sultanate through the joint efforts of the Orpic’s ICV team and the key contractors of the four project packages. Orpic supports ICV by reinforcing & developing businesses and taking human capabilities into consideration. This is achieved by reaching authenticated (made in Oman) products and materials bought by the company and grow the human capital in all Orpic projects by ensuring at least 30 per cent Omanisation in the companies working for the project The work of the ICV team revolves around a clear action plan to achieve its objectives which include 30 per cent Omanisation in the project, training 15 per cent of Omani staff working in the contracting companies and supporting Omani companies, including SMEs and Omani suppliers through job opportunities available in the project by 25 per cent. At the beginning of each project, a plan is agreed with the contractor in order to achieve the ICV objectives through Omanisation and training along with supporting the Omani products and companies. Dr Hilal Abdullah al Hinai, GM Support Services at Orpic, said: “Based on our value of serving Oman and customers with pride, we at Orpic, are proud to achieve maximum ICV through our development projects. At LPIC, we built up our productivity in the Omani economy through providing more job opportunities, training and support for SMEs directly through many local contracts, business opportunities and tenders offered by the project packages, guaranteeing 10 per cent of the total contracts and tenders in materials and raw materials for these organisations. Orpic ICV strategy, in line with the national plan of the Sultanate, aims at supporting and developing businesses and the development of human resources and enhancing productivity with regard to serving the national economy by maintaining the maximum value within the country. We have secured $93 million through supporting more than 500 SMEs in the Sultanate, and we are proud for winning the Entrepreneurship Award for “Best Support by a huge company” at the recent Al Riyada Awards 2018.