Oman completes $4.5 bln contract talks for plastics complex

Punj Lloyd

25/11/2015 15:09

MUSCAT, Nov 25 (Reuters) - State-owned Oman Oil Refineries 
and Petroleum Industries Co (ORPIC) said it had finalised 
negotiations with preferred bidders for $4.5 billion worth of 
contracts to build a major plastics complex in the sultanate. 
    The four engineering, procurement and contracting packages 
will be completed in four years, with plants to be commissioned 
in 2019, ORPIC said in a statement on Wednesday. 
    A joint venture of Chicago Bridge & Iron Co  CBI.N  of the 
United States and Taiwan's CTCI  9933.TW  will be awarded the 
contract for a steam cracker and utilities, ORPIC said. In a 
separate statement, Chicago Bridge & Iron said that contract 
would be worth about $2.8 billion. 
    Italy's Tecnimont  MTCM.MI  will win a contract for plastics 
units, South Korea's GS Engineering and Construction  006360.KS  
and Japan's Mitsui & Co  8031.T  a contract for natural gas 
liquids extraction facilities, and India's Punj Lloyd  PUJL.NS  
a contract for a pipelime, ORPIC said. 
    The Liwa Plastics Project, being built in Oman's northern 
port city of Sohar, is a big part of the sultanate's effort to 
diversify its economy away from hydrocarbons. It is designed to 
enable Oman to produce polyethylene for the first time, and to 
increase its output of polypropylene. 
    ORPIC chief executive Musab al-Mahruqi said he expected to 
sign the contracts and financing deals by the end of this year. 
    "We are concluding discussions with export credit agencies, 
commercial banks and other relevant authorities and we expect to 
finalise the project funding plan by the end of the year, 
enabling us to award the respective EPC contracts." 
    Previously, ORPIC said it would borrow money to finance 70 
percent of construction of the complex, while the remaining 30 
percent would come in the form of equity from the company. 
 
 (Reporting by Fatma Alarimi; Writing by Andrew Torchia; Editing 
by Mark Heinrich) 
 ((andrew.torchia@thomsonreuters.com; +9715 6681 7277; Reuters 
Messaging: andrew.torchia.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: OMAN PLASTICS/CONTRACT