Oman Economy
Oman on Global Petrochemicals Map
reaching the United States as well,” said Al Kharusi. “We will add another 7 – 8 different products from Duqm Petrochemicals in 2025, effectively enabling Oman to provide the market with niche products. These will complement the petrochemicals from our sister company, Oxea, which has oxo-chemical manufacturing plants in Germany and the US. Consequently, we will have a nice portfolio of petrochemicals that will position Oman well on the global market.” The official made the comments during a panel discussion held as part of the Oman Economic, Industrial & Free Zone summit (OEFZS 2019). The two-day forum was hosted by Ithraa and Free Zone Watch.
The Sultanate’s burgeoning petrochemicals industry, said Al Kharusi, will help meet the escalating needs of the global petrochemicals sector, which is growing at an average 8 per cent per annum. The total value of the global petchem industry reached around $550 billion by the end of 2018, and is projected to reach $980 billion by 2025, he noted. Also attesting to the strength and appeal of Oman’s petrochemicals industry is the ease with which Oman Oil and Orpic Group – the main investor in this sector – continues to get funding for its projects from international lending institutions. This is further underscored by the fact that Duqm Refinery, which achieved financial close last December – the largest financing in the Sultanate, was oversubscribed. “This encourages us to move forward with our investment
Oman in Focus 17
strategy for the petrochemicals industry,” he said. However, while Oman Oil & Orpic Group is focused on the development of large-scale petrochemical ventures, there is still plenty of opportunity for small and medium investors to look at downstream and ancillary projects that would add value to Oman’s natural resources, said Al Kharusi. He stressed in this regard the need for a national strategy to enable small and medium investors to take advantage of the huge volumes of feedstock that will become available in the country when the Duqm Petrochemicals project comes on stream in 2025.
