Liwa Plastic Industries Complex officially commissioned

Suhar: High Highness Sayyid Asaad bin Tarik al Said, Deputy Prime Minister for International Relations and Cooperation Affairs, Personal Representative of His Majesty the Sultan, presided over the launching ceremony of Liwa Plastics Industries Complex (LPIC), a RO 2.7-billion mega project of OQ, at Suhar Industrial Port, on Monday.

The LPIC is part of the government’s plans to diversify income sources and enhance infrastructure as one of the investment projects in the petrochemicals industry that aims to boost the value of natural resources in the Sultanate of Oman.

LPIC consists of four packages, three of which have already entered the commercial operation phase while the integrated commercial operation of package 1 is under way. The local added value of the project during the construction phase was nearly RO 578 million.

The project aims to boost the infrastructure sector by adding 838,000t/yr of polyethylene (PE) and about 300,000t/yr of polypropylene (PP), raising total production of both products in the country to 1.4mn t/yr from around 1mn t/yr.

The successful implementation of the petrochemicals project, with an investment of RO 2.7 billion (approx. $7 billion), exemplifies the Omani government’s efforts to diversify revenue sources, support local manufacturing opportunities, and most importantly, to add value to the country’s natural resources by opening up avenues for investments in downstream petrochemical industries. Significantly, Liwa Plastics achieved an In-Country Value (ICV) contribution amounting to approximately RO 578 million (approx. $1.5 billion) during the construction phase through the localization of various goods and services procured from Omani companies, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

LPIC consists of four EPCs, of which the second, third and fourth EPCs have been launched, while the first EPC (Steam Cracker) is at the commercial commissioning stage. This phased launch is in line with the delivery programme prepared by project management teams to enable the overall complex to reach full production capacity by the first quarter of 2022.

Kamel bin Bakheet al Shanfari, Acting CEO OQ Downstream, commented: “Liwa Plastics Industries Complex (LPIC) is the biggest of OQ Group’s current investments with the potential to position OQ as a major global petrochemicals producer.

When fully operational, Liwa Plastics will contribute to a significant increase in OQ’s portfolio of petrochemicals and associated chemical commodities. This includes a momentous increase in its polymer output, which will be targeted at local and global markets.” The project, he further noted, will boost the industrial sector through the annual production of 838,000 tons of polyethylene – a raw material used in nearly 40 per cent of plastics-based products and commodities produced globally, and about 215,000 tons of polypropylene.

Output of these two polymers will eventually rise to 1.4 million tons annually. Since the start of soft operations earlier this year, Liwa Plastics achieved a total output of roughly 474 thousand tons of petrochemicals as of October-end 2021, he stated.

The Complex, he further explained, consists of a number of key components, including a gas extraction plant located in Fahud which is linked to the main plant within Sohar Industrial Port by a 300km-long, 14-inch pipeline. At the heart of the main plant is a steam cracker that processes the light hydrocarbon gases produced by OQ’s other plants in Sohar, as well as rich gas coming from Fahud. Integrated into the complex are polymer plants designed to produce High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE), Linear Low-Density Polyethylene (LLDPE), and polypropylene.

The overall project has been designed and constructed in line with international best practices and standards and is comparable with petrochemical projects in its class anywhere in the world. Incorporating the latest technologies, the complex also meets the most stringent international benchmarks for environmental safety – standards certified by an environmental consultancy firm accredited by the Environmental Authority. The certification has also been endorsed by various experts and the project’s financiers, he added.