PRESS RELEASE – 30
SEPTEMBER 2007
OMAN METHANOL
COMPANY ANNOUNCES FIRST PRODUCT EXPORT
Oman Methanol
Company LLC (OMC) is proud to announce the first shipment of product from its
plant in Sohar, Sultanate of Oman.
The Chemstar Moon (which
is owned by Iino Kaiun Kaisha Ltd) docked in the
An OMC spokesman
said “We are delighted to see the Chemstar Moon in Port, This milestone
demonstrates the realisation of the OMC project, founded on the vision of His
Excellency Dr Omar Zawawi and the experience of our overseas shareholders. We
established our presence on site in early 2005 and since then we and our
partner companies have been totally committed to achieving production in Sohar
within the cost and schedule targets we set ourselves. Today represents the
culmination of the sincere efforts from all those who have worked on our
project and is an occasion of great pride for all who have contributed to this
success. We look forward to our future of manufacturing methanol and growing
our business, and being a good corporate citizen in the Sultanate of Oman.”
The OMC Project
achieved Financial Close in April 2005 and has progressed well since then.
Apart from delivering the plant within cost and schedule budgets, the
Contractors and workforce have worked to international standards of safety,
health and environment, with an excellent record for the project.
The plant was
started during August 2007 and has been running extremely well since then. This
success is a major tribute to the partner companies and subcontractors who have
undertaken the engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning and
operation of the facility for OMC.
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OMC is owned through holding companies by Methanol
Holdings (Trinidad) Limited (MHTL), Omar Zawawi Establishment (Omzest) of
The engineering and off-shore procurement for the
project was undertaken by MAN Ferrostaal AG, with their subcontractor Toyo
Engineering Limited. The technology is the LPM process, originally developed by
ICI and now licensed by Johnson Matthey plc.
Construction, on-shore procurement and commissioning were
managed by Oman Proman Contracting and Trading LLC.
Operations are managed by Oman Plants Services
Company LLC.
Finance has been
provided by the German bank KfW IPEX.
OMC’s plant will produce 3 000 te/day and the product
is fully committed to Helm AG of
Shipping and Logistics is managed by Panasia Marine
(Tankers) Pte. of
Iino Kaiun Kaisha Ltd is incorporated in