As the nation’s refining and petrochemicals flagship, Orpic has also made a strong commitment to Health, Security, Safety and Environment (HSSE) goals. It has embraced a policy that aims to meet or exceed all national environmental regulations covering the operation of its plants.
This award recognises a Middle East refinery which has achieved operational excellence over the past twelve months. This operational excellence is measured across fields including reduction of gas emissions resulting from refining process, improving energy efficiency and implementation of a remarkable maintenance initiative. Of late, Orpic has been focused on an ambitious plan to expand and modernise its refinery at Sohar, aimed primarily at securing the country’s burgeoning fuel needs. The expansion, due to be completed in 2016, is also expected to improve the refinery›s product quality and increase output by more than 70 per cent. It will also provide the latest technological advances to improve emission control and will create employment opportunities for the local community. The major objective of the expansion project is to increase the production of petroleum products such as LPG, naphtha, Jet A-1 fuel, gasoline, diesel and propylene. These additional petroleum products will meet the growth of local demand in addition to enhancing Oman›s exports of petroleum and petrochemical products. Additionally, this project will produce bitumen to meet the demand of the local market and eliminate the need for bitumen imports. The expansion will add around 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) of new capacity to Sohar Refinery’s present processing capacity of around 116,000 bpd of crude and long residue. This represents a significant 70 per cent jump in the plant’s existing processing capacity, according to Mr. Musab Al Mahruqi, CEO of ORPIC. “We have been witnessing rapid growth in local demand, particularly for gasoline, motor gasoline, diesel, LPG for cooking gas, and also jet fuel. The country is growing and with it, there is growth in demand as well,” the CEO said. The expansion project will be implemented at Sohar Industrial Port to complement the existing Sohar Refinery, which was commissioned in 2006. Leading global engineering consultant CB&I Lummus B.V. has been appointed to provide front end engineering design (FEED) for the expansion project. CB&I Lummus B.V. is working with selected licensors, along with the Sohar Refinery Expansion Team, to provide the basic design and engineering package in order to finalize the FEED package. Several specialist contracts have also been awarded to internationally-renowned process licensors, such as Chevron Lummus Global for the Hydrocracking unit, UOP/Foster Wheeler for the Solvent De-Asphalting unit and Black & Veatch for the Sulfur Recovery unit. It is expected that construction work on the expansion project will commence later in 2013. The project is slated for
completion in the first half of 2016. While part of the refined products is earmarked for export, a significant proportion of the output will be consumed locally.
Commitment to HSSE As the nation’s refining and petrochemicals flagship, Orpic has also made a strong commitment to Health, Security, Safety and Environment (HSSE) goals. It has embraced a policy that aims to meet or exceed all national environmental regulations covering the operation of its plants. Towards this goal, it has laid down clear-cut guidelines for measuring, managing and minimizing the environmental impact of its operations. Recently, in September 2012, Orpic’s CEO announced the award of a contract to Norway-based Alstom for the implementation of a groundbreaking emissions reduction plan. The project, which falls within the company’s environmental plan approved by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs, aims to improve gaseous emissions from the cracker unit in Sohar Refinery. In fact, Orpic has earmarked a total of RO 23 million towards more than 19 projects linked to the implementation of the company’s ambitious Environmental Improvement Plan. This investment is in line with its commitment to protecting the peripheral environment encompassing its projects, through diligent endeavours and by adopting the best international measures to conserve and protect the environment. Orpic has also executed a number of vital projects such as recycling of fuel oil waste and catalysts. In addition, a number of measures have been taken to reduce odours from the refinery. It has contracted the specialist firm Chemic to spray a chemical that neutralizes foul odours emanating from wastewater at its treatment plant. Furthermore, as a permanent solution for odour reduction, in July 2012, Orpic entered into a contract with Al Saqr (Falcon) for designing, fabrication and installation of covers for the waste water treatment plant tanks. Besides, odour detecting devices (e-noses) have been installed all around the wastewater treatment facility. In conjunction with these efforts to ensure its plants do not impact the environment in which it operates, Orpic has also embraced an active CSR programme that commits itself to stay engaged with communities particularly around its Sohar complex. The company has worked alongside fellow industries of Sohar, notably Vale and Sohar Aluminium, to jointly launch and implement a number of social, youth and environmental projects.
45 Port of Sohar 2013