US Ambassador to Oman Gary A Grappo toured Oman-based Octal Petrochemicals in the southeast city of Salalah, Muscat, last week.

Ambassador Grappo visited Octal’s clear rigid plastic sheet facility and viewed the much larger integrated PET resin and sheet plant under construction.

The Ambassador was accompanied on the tour by a senior delegation of Octal officials led by operations director APET sheet Patrick J Corcoran.

Octal recently announced plans to increase capacity in PET (polyethylene terephthalate) resins to 800,000 metric tons by May 2010, making it one of the world’s largest polyester producers.

Production at its new integrated facility in Oman’s southeast city of Salalah will start in July and reach 330,000 metric tons per annum in capacity by March 2009. Around half of the capacity will be in PET resin and the rest in amorphous PET sheet.

“Oman and the US enjoy strong trade relations and Octal will significantly increase Oman’s non-oil exports to the US,” said Octal board member Rashid Saif Al Sadi.

“It was an honour to receive the US Ambassador and a valuable opportunity to show how US and Omani industry is collaborating in Salalah, and the scale of our growth plans.

“Octal is creating jobs in Salalah, recruiting the best talent from around the region and the world, and innovating new technology that will move the plastics industry forward,” he added.

Based at Salalah Free Zone, Octal Petrochemicals’ integrated PET and APET sheet production plant is being built at an initial cost of $300 million. Total investment on the site is set to rise to as much as $1.2 billion upon completion. Net exports are expected to reach $1.1 billion by 2011. – TradeArabia News Service