Sohar Port and Freezone signed an agreement with Sanvira Industries Limited to set up a calcined petroleum coke (CPC) plant in the freezone area. The signing is in line with the commitment of Sohar towards encouraging new developments and offering constant opportunities for growth within the Sohar Freezone.

The agreement was signed between Dr Mohammed Nasser Ali Al Zaabi, Chairman of the Board at Sohar Port and Freezone, and Managing Director Rajiv Reddy, representing Sanvira Industries Limited.

“Sohar Port and Freezone is committed towards encouraging new business investments that will enable us to play a vital role in the economic diversification plans of the Sultanate,” Al Zaabi said, highlighting the emergence of the new plant.

“In line with our partnership, the new petroleum plant will not only add value to the industries already present at the freezone, but subsequently also create several downstream opportunities,” he added.

The calcined petroleum coke plant has a total investment of OMR75 million and will take up an area of 18 hectares at the freezone. The plant will have an annual capacity of 440,000 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), executed in two phases: 280,000 MTPA in Phase 1 and 160,000 MTPA in Phase 2. The finished product, calcined petroleum coke (CPC), will be exported to aluminium and steel industries in and around the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region.

Reddy said, “We produce several grades of CPC with high density and low reactivity tailored to our buyers’ requirements. Some of the CPC has been used to blend and produce anodes with highly outstanding utilities and performance, catering to industries in the aluminium, steel and titanium-dioxide sectors.”

“Our facility in Sohar will produce around 130tph of high-pressure steam, which can be supplied to other industries present in the freezone, to generate electricity or produce desalinated water for commercial sale. The addition of the plant will also the see the production of raw petroleum coke as feedstock for downstream petrochemical industries,” Reddy added.

“Together with this new development, we will be able to improve facilities for our tenants in the Port and Freezone. This in turn will subsequently help us achieve our objective of becoming one of the leading logistic hubs in the region,” Jamal Aziz, DCEO of Sohar Port and Freezone, added.

Sanvira Industries Limited has been involved in the calcination process and operation over 100 years, creating a legacy in the sector. The company’s core team combines extensive experience and global perspective with a customer-centric vision to provide customers with high quality products and services in respective markets.