Oman’s OQ Group has signed strategic agreements worth over RO230 million ($598 million) with two global companies - Germany-based MAK and Indian group Deepak - for the development of advanced downstream manufacturing projects in the cities of Sohar and Salalah in the sultanate.
The move is aimed at redirecting locally-produced raw materials towards high-value-added industries within the country, said OQ in a statement.
This initiative is part of a national trajectory to enhance the sultanate's position in regional and global industrial value chains and is in line with OQ’s industrial localisation drive and as a direct extension of the Ladayn Polymer Programme, it stated.
A national industrial transformation initiative, Ladayn was launched by OQ to link locally produced primary inputs to manufacturing sectors.
Announcing the agreements, OQ said the first one with MAK is aimed at establishment of a plant for the production of Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA) and Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) in the Sohar Freezone.
The project, which is being set up at an investment of over RO192 million, is set to bolster the manufacturing of polymer products in Oman using 'para-xylene' supplied by OQ. Once operational, the German group will boast a production capacity of 700,000 tonnes per year at the plant.
The second agreement with Deepak is for the supply of ammonia for a ten-year renewable period. This enables the establishment of a plant to produce sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate in the Salalah Freezone, with an investment exceeding RO38 million.
The facility will have a production capacity of approximately 70,000 tonnes per year, targeting the pharmaceutical and specialized fertilizer industries, while relying on ammonia supplied by OQ.
In support of these projects, Sohar Port and Freezone has signed sub-usufruct and lease agreements with Sohar Petrochemicals Company and Sohar International Urea and Chemical Industries Company.
These include land usufruct rights at Sohar Port and land leasing at Sohar Freezone, establishing an integrated regulatory and operational framework that links port facilities, pipeline networks, and manufacturing units into a single high-efficiency system.
"These agreements underscore OQ Group’s role in shaping Oman’s advanced manufacturing landscape through the systematic integration of upstream resources, industrial production and enabling infrastructure under the Ladayn programme," said a company spokesman.
"The programme strengthens public–private collaboration in building national industrial value chains, while reflecting OQ’s commitment to attracting global investment and reinforcing Oman’s competitive positioning as a regional manufacturing hub, in alignment with economic diversification goals and Oman Vision 2040," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
