Oman’s $6.7 billion petrochemical project at Sohar Port is nearing its launch, according to the Oman Observer.

Officials at OQ (formerly known as Oman Oil &Orpic Group) announced that the Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) extraction plant at Fahud had successfully completed a maiden test run last week. A senior project official said “a major milestone was achieved when Fahud NGL extraction plant successfully passed its 72 hours runs test exceeding the contractual NGL recovery guaranteed figures.”

At Sohar Port, work on the two main packages of the petrochemical complex is close to full completion. The centrepiece is an 880,000 tons/year mixed feed cracker designed to process 36,000 barrels per day (bpd) of light ends from the adjoining Suhar Refinery and 24,000 bpd of NGLs from Fahud. At full capacity, the complex is capable of producing 1.1 million tons/year of petrochemicals, comprising 800,000 tons/year of polyethylene and 215,000 tons/year of polypropylene.