Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company’s (Orpic) Mina al Fahal Refinery undergoes a major planned turnaround and maintenance activity for 45 days from October 3 to November 16, a report said.

The shutdown will be used to execute a number of maintenance activities in order to improve the operational performance of the refinery, reported Oman Observer.

This planned turnaround is undertaken every four years to carry out Inspection and testing, debottlenecking projects, revamps and catalyst regeneration that are much needed to ensure refinery reliability and improved efficiency of all its downstream units.

The 45-day maintenance period will cover modifications to the existing plant to allow a full integration of the new units, being constructed under the Suhar Refinery Improvement Project (SRIP) and Muscat-Suhar Product Pipeline (MSPP) project including a distribution depot in Jifnain, that are due for commissioning later in the year.

The turnaround is expected to have a total workforce of 2,200 and anticipated 1,000,000 man-hours at site.