Oman's Orpic eyes 2015 startup for output from Sohar refinery expansion

Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries or Orpic is expected to start production from its expanded refinery at Sohar, Oman, in 2015, technology provider UOP said in a statement Tuesday.

Orpic has selected UOP and Foster Wheeler technology to process heavy oil and expand fuel and petrochemical production. Both companies, in collaboration, will provide the technology license and basic engineering package for the expanded unit that will be able to process 2.5 million mt/year of heavy crude.

Orpic will use the UOP/Foster Wheeler Solvent Deasphalting process to convert heavy crude to low-contaminant deasphalted oil, which will be used to produce LPG, gasoline, jet fuel, diesel and propylene.

The SDA process produces a high-quality, low-contaminant deasphalted oil rich in paraffinic-type molecules that is used in fuel and petrochemical production.

Orpic, owned by the government of the Sultanate of Oman, owns four plants at Sohar and Muscat with a total production capacity of 222,000 b/d of products including naphtha, LPG, gasoil, gasoline, fuel oil, jet oil, as well as 818,000 mt/year of paraxylene, 198,000 mt/year of benzene and 350,000 mt/year of polypropylene.