It was in Mina al-Fahal that the Sultanate of Oman constructed its first oil refinery. Subsequently, the 50,000-b/d plant was expanded to 85,000 b/d. Operated by the state-owned Oman Refinery Company (ORC), Mina al-Fahal production inclueds gasoline, jet fuel, LPG butane, gas oil , kerosene and bunker fuel. A proposal to build a second refinery is being studied by the government to satisfy the increasing domestic demand as well as the country’s exports.
Oman has moved to invest in petrochemical production as part of its efforts to diversify its economy and to develop domestic industries. In April 1995, the Finnish-Norwegian joined venture Neste-Borealis showed it intention to study the feasibility of constructing a 260,000-ton-per-year ethylene plant and two other polyethylene plants. The proposed project would take 5 years to be constructed and would have a production capacity of 65,000 b/d of polypropylene for export. Moreover, the Omani government is planning to construct a 850-million- dollar fertilizer plant in Sur to convert ammonia derived from gas into urea. With an expected production of 1.45 million tons of urea annually, the plant would likely of the largest of its kind in the world.
Besides the domestic refining projects, the Sultanate of Oman also is considering various refining projects overseas, particularly in India. One of these projects involves the construction of refinery at Bina in the Indian state of Madhya with a capacity of 120000 b/p/d in the central Indian state of Madhya. Work on this particular was scheduled to begin in September 1996 and was supposed to have been completed by 1999. Another major refinery project with a capacity of 120000 -145000 b/p/d is being considered to be built in Deogad south of Bombay . Oman hopes to provide approximately 60,000 b/d/d of crude oil to each refinery. OOC has been playing an vital investment role both inside the Sultanate of Oman and abroad.