Orpic inks $80 million five technology licensing contracts Power and Energy

Orpic’s (Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries) $3.6 billion Liwa Plastic Project (LPP) has signed the award of five technology licensor contracts worth $80 million. The contracts relate to the various units of the project, namely NGL extraction, PyGas hydrogenation, MTBE, polypropylene and polyethylene units.

The contracts have been awarded after a competent bidding and selection process.

LPP is a steam cracker project, which will process light ends produced in Orpic’s Sohar Refinery and its Aromatics plant as well as improve Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs) extracted from presently available natural gas supplies.

The NGL extraction technology will be delivered by Randall Gas Technologies and will be installed at the extraction plant in Fahud. The plant will transmit its products through a 300km pipeline between Fahud and Sohar Industrial Port. The Axens will provide the PyGas hydrogenation unit.

The process covers separation of specific elements from natural gas for use as raw material in the plastic production.

The PyGas hydrogenation unit is developed to produce various high-value components such as isoprene, benzene, toluene and xylenes, among others.

CB&I has been chosen as the technology licensor for the Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) producing unit. Basell Poliolefine will deliver technological components for the polypropylene unit.

Univation Technologies will facilitate technology for polyethylene unit, which will produce components for production of films and parts.

Earlier this year the LPP awarded CB&I a contract for ethylene technology, front-end engineering and design (FEED) services.

LPP is scheduled for completion in 2018, and will produce 1.4 million tonnes of polyethylene and polypropylene each year.