Oman is considering merging the operations of the country’s two state-owned oil refineries, an official at Oman Refinery Company (ORC) said.
ORC is expanding its throughput capacity by 25 percent to reach 106,000 barrels per day (bpd) by April at its Muscat plant and a new refinery, the 116,400-bpd Sohar some 250 km distant, is due to start operations this year.
“There is a proposal to merge these two refineries,” said the ORC official. “A consultancy agency has been appointed to advise the government.”
He said the merger would enable the refineries to bring down overhead costs since ORC owns both the feedstock and refined products processed at Sohar Refinery.
Sohar Refinery has a crude unit with a capacity of 116,400 bpd and a residue fluid catalytic cracking unit with a capacity of 75,260 bpd.
Sohar's senior product planning engineer, Hussain Al Agmi, said earlier the refinery was expected to start commercial operations this month. It had been expected to start up at the end of October after resolving what ORC officials have described as “hiccups”.
Oman Trading International, a trading venture set up by Oman Oil and Vitol, has signed a five-year deal with ORC to take output from Sohar.