The Sohar Industrial Port Area, in the north of Oman, will host two large production sites for methanol, both set up by the same private companies.

Each of these is to have a production capacity of 3,000 tonnes per day.
The first project, expected to be ready in the second half of 2007, will be owned by Oman Methanol Company LLC (OMC), a joint venture of Methanol Holdings (Trinidad) Limited (MHTL), Omar Zawawi Establishment (Omzest) of Oman and MAN Ferrostaal AG of Germany.
The project’s lender bank is Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau of Germany.
“OMC achieved financial closure for its plant on April 21, 2005, and engineering, procurement and construction are progressing rapidly. Though the contractual completion date for the project is September 17, 2007, it is envisaged to complete the project ahead of schedule,” an OMC spokesman said.
The Omani government will supply natural gas to OMC under an agreement executed on August 18, 2004. Signing the agreement were Omani Minister of Oil and Gas Dr Mohammed bin Hamad Al Rumhi for the government and Dr Omar Zawawi, Dr Axel Wippermann and Joseph Cassidy for OMC.
The methanol offtake agreement for the entire output from the plant was executed between OMC and Helm AG of Germany on August 18, 2004.
MAN Ferrostaal is handling the engineering and offshore procurement for the project. Managing the onshore procurement, construction and commissioning is Oman Proman Contracting and Trading LLC. Carrying out the startup and subsequent operation of the plant will be Oman Plants Services Company LLC.
About the second project, the spokesman said: “The follow-up project is already in the pipeline. The sponsors of OMC recently approved a proposal to build a second 3,000 tonnes-per-day plant adjacent to the area of the methanol project already in progress and which will be established as the Sohar Methanol Company (SMC) project.