Site

25^th Jul 2006 (Source)

The refinery has an atmospheric distillation crude unit with a capacity of 116,400bpd and a residue fluidised catalytic cracking (RFCC) unit with a capacity of 75,260bpd. The refinery also has an LPG Merox unit, a petrol desulphurisation unit, a 1,900,000Nm³/d hydrogen generation unit, sour water stripping unit, amine regeneration unit (ARU), sulphur recovery unit, indirect alkylation (InAlK) unit and a deep desulphurisation unit. and a deep desulphurisation unit.

The refinery operates for maximum olefin production to supply 340,000t per year of propylene to Oman Polypropylene plant. Around 10% of the refined products are sold in local markets with the remainder made available for export.

The refinery output for export includes fuel oils, petrol, LPG, naphtha, gas oil and kerosene. The exports will be through a ten-year off-take agreement with BP.

The refinery is also used to treat (desulphurisation) fuel oils produced at Mina Al-Fahal, crude oil exporting terminal in Muscat. A 266km pipeline has also been built to transport fuel and crude oil from the Mina Al-Fahal facility to the refinery, which cost an estimated $175m.

10^th Aug 2007 (Source)

Oman's 116,400 barrels per day Sohar oil refinery started full production on Sunday, six months later than planned after the plant suffered start-up snags.

14^th Sep 2012 (Source)

Currently, the Sohar refinery is processing 116,000 b/d of crude oil and the expansion is planned to add 60,000 b/d representing more than 50% capacity increase. fter the expansion of the Sohar refinery, ORPIC will reach a total refining capacity of 250,000 b/d. On first half 2012, the engineering company CB&I Lummus completed the front end engineering and design (FEED) work for the Sohar Refinery Expansion project and signed with ORPIC the Project Management Consultancy (PMC) contract. As a result the Sohar refinery Expansion project should include a:

• Crude Distillation Unit (CDU)
• Vacuum Distillation Unit (VDU)
• Hydrocracker Unit (HCU) for which Chevron Lummus Global is providing the license
• Sulfur Recovery Unit (SRU) for which Black and Veatch is the licensor
• Isomerization Unit (ISOM)
• PSA Unit for Hydrogen
• Sour Water Strippers
• Amine Regeneration
• Offsites & Utilities

With this expansion and upgrade, ORPIC intends to increase the production of the Sohar Refinery with petroleum products such as:

• LPG
• Naphtha
• Jet A-1 fuel
• High performances gasoline and diesel
• Propylene

6^th July 2016 (Source)

The Sohar Refinery Improvement Project (SRIP) is a $2.1bn expansion project...

The SRIP includes the addition of five new units, including crude distillation unit (CDU), vacuum distillation unit (VDU), delayed coker unit (DCU), hydrocracker unit (HCU) and bitumen blowing unit (BBU) to the existing Sohar refinery.

It also involves the construction of a desalination facility, which will be installed with three multiple-effect distillation-thermal vapour compression (MED-TVC) units having a capacity of 5,352m³ a day, three fractional electro-deionisation (FEDI) demineralisation units, each with a capacity of 3,360m³ a day of ultra-pure water for boiler feed and two re-mineralising dosing skids for service water and potable water production.

The facility will also integrate eight Vent-Scrub VSC-200 units, four VSC-2000 units and two VSC-8000 vapour phase carbon adsorption systems, to treat malodorous and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions.

Two identical parallel sulphur recovery unit (SRU) trains will be installed to process amine acid gas and sour water stripper acid gas, and separate acid gas feedstock. The tail gas treating unit will utilise generic methyl diethanol amine for efficient sulphur recovery.

These additional units and facilities will add up to 82,000 barrels a day (bbl/d) to the existing 116,000bbl capacity of Sohar Refinery, boosting its overall capacity to 198,000bbl/d.

31^st Dec 2018 (Source)

Capacity:

• Before: 5.8 million tons/annum & 116,400 bbl/day
• After : 9.8 million tons/annum & 187,000 bbl/day

Main Contractors:

• CB&I:
  • Front end engineering and design (FEED) and project management services
  • Design and supply of delayed coking, hydrocracking, crude and vacuum heaters and a steam reformer
• UOP/Foster Wheeler: Solvent Deasphalting (SDA) process technology and basic engineering design package
• Chevron Lummus Global: Licence for the Hydrocracking unit
• Black and Veatch: Licence for the Sulphur Recovery unit

Refining Units:

• Crude Distillation Unit - 71,500 bpd
• Vacuum Distillation Unit - 96,800 bpd
• Once-Through Hydrocracker Unit - 66,400 bpd
• Solvent De-Asphalting Unit - 42,400 bpd
• Sulphur recovery unit,
• Sour water stripper units,
• Amine regeneration unit,
• Isomerisation unit

Crude Supply:

• Omani Crude and residue from the Mina al Fahal Refinery

4^th April 2019 (Source)

Oman's state-run oil and gas company Oman Oil and its partner Orpic Group have officially completed the US$2.7bn Sohar refinery improvement project (SRIP), which increased the total capacity of the Sohar refinery from 116,000 bbl/d to 198,000 bbl/d. The project adds five new units, including a crude distillation unit (CDU), a vacuum distillation unit (VDU), a delayed coker unit (DCU), a hydrocracker unit (HCU) and  bitumen blowing unit. It will raise fuel production by 70% (including +90% for diesel, +37% for gasoline, +93% for kerosene, +93% for jet fuel and +91% for LPG). New capacities should help Oman refine different crude mixes and raise the added value of its oil exports.

16^th Nov 2019 (Source)

Oman Oil Refineries & Petroleum Industries Co. (ORPIC) has completed a major turnaround involving installation of a new reactor for an existing residue fluid catalytic cracking (RFCC) unit at the operator’s now 198,000-b/d Sohar refinery, about 230 km northwest of Muscat.

The $2.7-billion SRIP added 82,000 b/d in crude processing capacity at Sohar to increase the refinery’s average overall fuel production by 70%, including expanding production growth by 90% for diesel, 37% for gasoline, 93% for kerosine, 93% for jet fuel, 91% for LPG, 175% for naphtha, and 44% for propylene, ORPIC said.

Alongside incorporating the RFCC reactor replacement project, the SRIP capital investment covered installation of five new units at the refinery, including the new 82,000-b/d crude distillation unit (CDU), vacuum distillation unit (VDU), delayed coker, hydrocracker, and bitumen-blowing unit.

In addition to helping boost environmental performance of the site, the new CDU, VDU, delayed coker, hydrocracker, and bitumen-blowing unit were designed to help the refinery improve its ability to process heavier Oman Export Blend (OEB) crude, as well as cope with unforeseen changes in quality of the crude oil mix, ORPIC said.

Upon reaching full commercial operation, ORPIC previously said the newly expanded Sohar refinery would be equipped to produce more than 13 million tonnes/year of finished products to serve growing domestic demand.