Sohar Refinery Improvement Project in Oman

The Sohar Refinery Improvement Project (SRIP) is a US$ 2.1bn expansion project that is being undertaken by Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (ORPIC) in a bid to upgrade the current capabilities of the refinery to meet the growing demands for petroleum products within the Sultanate of Oman. 

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The project includes the addition of five new units that will feature a vacuum distillation unit (VDU), a crude distillation unit (CDU), a bitumen blowing unit (BBU), and a hydrocracker unit (HCU) to the current refinery. It also includes the construction of a desalination facility which is confirmed to be installed with three multiple-effect distillation thermal vapour compression (MED-TVC) units, boasting a capacity of 5,352 m3 a day.

Additional Sohar Refinery improvement project works

There will also be three fractional electro-deionization (FEDI) demineralization units that will each boast a capacity of 3,360 m3 a day of pure water intended for boiler feed as well as integration of four VSC-2000 units, eight Vent-Scrub VSC-200 units and two VSC-8000 vapour phase carbon adsorption systems. In addition to the aforementioned, two identical parallel Sulphur recovery unit (SRU) trains will be added and installed to facilitate the processing of amine acid gas and sour water stripper acid gas, as well as separate acid gas feedstock.

Set to be constructed in compliance with both local and EU environmental regulations for the enhancement of environmental performance as well as the reduction of emissions from capacity pressure, these additional facilities and units will add 82,000 barrels a day (bbl/d) to the current 116,000 capacity of the refinery. Therefore, the overall capacity of the refinery will be boosted by 198,000 barrels a day. 

Project expectations and team

The Sohar Refinery improvement project is expected to create economical benefits for the Oman government and local businesses, as well as generate approximately 300 permanent jobs, 900 indirect jobs and 2,400 Omani contract jobs throughout its lifetime.

Evoqua Water Technologies is responsible for the provision of Vent-Scrub vapour-phase carbon adsorption systems for the project while Black & Veatch is responsible for the provision of the sulphur recovery unit and the tail gas treating units.

Aquatech was contracted to supply thermal desalination systems for the project while ALE was awarded the contract to transport heavy-lift, out-of-gauge (OOG) units for the facility. A joint venture comprising Petrofac and Daelim Industrial Co. won the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the Sohar Refinery improvement project.