MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korea EXIM Bank) will provide USD370 million worth project financing to Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (ORPIC)’s petrochemical project in Liwa province, reported TPS with reference to the bank's press release.
The Liwa petrochemical project is Oman’s national project that aims to build the country’s first petrochemical plant using natural gas as feedstock.
The project is worth USD6.3 billion and it was awarded to a consortium led by South Korea’s GS Engineering & Construction in December 2015.
"As low oil prices continue, many large-scale petrochemical projects have been cancelled all over the world and the Korean companies have been encountering difficulties to win orders,: said an official from the Korea EXIM Bank.
“Nonetheless, it is widely expected that successful financing for overseas projects by the Korea EXIM Bank will assist the Korean companies to secure more contracts in the future," an official added.
This is the third time that the Korea EXIM Bank provided financing to refinery and petrochemical development projects by the Omani government.
In 2006, the bank provided USD500 million for the aromatic hydrocarbons plant construction project by Oman Oil Company that was awarded to LG International Corp.
In addition, the bank provided USD600 million for the refinery expansion project in Sohar that was awarded to Daelim Industrial Co. Ltd. In 2014.
As MRC wrote before, in August 2015, Orpic received five technical bids for a polymers plant in Sohar industrial area and three technical bids for an NGL extraction plant in Fahud, which are part of its mega petrochemical project -- Liwa Plastics Industries Complex. And in October 2015, Orpic named four companies as the preferred bidders for three of the four packages for its Liwa Plastics Industries Complex project. Tecnimont, JV GS Engineering & Construction Corp, Mitsui & Co and Punj Loyd are the companies that were selected for the project by Orpic.
The three packages include the Natural Gas Extraction Unit in Fahud, the NGL pipeline between Fahud and Sohar and the three plastics plants in Sohar, said the report.
Orpic (Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company) is one of the leading companies in Oman and has two refineries in that country, in Sohar and Muscat. Orpic is owned by the Government of the Sultanate of Oman and Oman Oil Company SAOC, the trading company created by the Government of the Sultanate of Oman for managing investments in the energy sector.
MRC