State-owned Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (Orpic) has secured US$3.8bn in project financing for its Liwa Plastics Industries Complex
The financing was supported by export credit agencies representing the governments of Italy, the Netherlands, South Korea, the UK and Germany, along with 19 international, regional and local commercial lenders, according to Reuters.
The total value of the project is US$6.5bn, Orpic said.
Last year, Henk Pauw, general manager of Liwa Plastics Project, said, “The government could contribute US$600mn to US$1bn in funding. We are still talking to banks and we have also engaged with export credit agencies.”
The plant, which is scheduled for commissioning in Q4 2018, will boost Orpic’s petrochemical output to 1.4mn tonnes per year, he revealed.
“Orpic is currently tendering for engineering, procurement and construction contracts and hopes to sign them and get investment approval by October 2015. Construction of the project is set to start in 2016,” noted the general manager.
Gulf countries are building petrochemical projects as part of plans to diversify income away from oil products, build downstream industries and create jobs for the youth, he added.
