STATE-OWNED Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Co (Orpic) said it awarded two contracts for the construction of a $3.6 billion plastics production complex, the Liwa Plastics Project.

Engineers India of New Delhi will operate the project management company, while the contract for front-end engineering and design was won by Netherlands-based Chicago Bridge & Iron (CB&I) Co, Orpic said in a statement without giving the value of the deals.

However, CB&I announced it was awarded a contract valued in excess of $40 million by Orpic.

CB&I will provide Feed services for a grassroots 800,000 tonnes per year ethylene plant, a pygas unit, an MTBE and butene-1 unit, two polymer plants, a gas plant and pipeline and related off-sites and utilities. The ethylene plant will employ CB&I’s latest, proven ethylene technology, including highly selective SRT cracking heaters and its innovative recovery section design, featuring low pressure separation and mixed refrigeration to minimise investment costs.

“CB&I has been selected for this significant project following the successful completion of the front end engineering and design of the Sohar Refinery Improvement Project for Orpic,” said Philip K. Asherman, CB&I’s president and CEO. “This project is an example of CB&I’s ability to offer our customers a more complete supply chain solution – showcasing our expertise in technology as well as engineering, procurement and construction.”

The plant will be built in Oman’s northern industrial city of Sohar, next to Orpic’s oil refinery and petrochemical plants. Pre-qualifying of companies to bid for the engineering, procurement and construction contract will be finished by the end of this year, Orpic said.

The Liwa Plastics Project is due to be completed in 2018, doubling Orpic’s profitability by allowing it to extract more value from Omani crude oil and natural gas, the company said.

The project will boost Orpic’s annual production of polypropylene and polyethylene to 1.4 million tonnes.