McNally Bharat contracted to improve bitumen refinery in Oman

The McNally Bharat Engineering Company Ltd. joint venture firm won $315 million for a bitumen refinery project in Oman Thursday.

Bitumen is a naturally occurring semi-solid form of petroleum that is highly sticky, black and viscous. Its most common use is as a component for road asphalt. In recent years, bitumen has seen increasing use as a refinable source of petroleum on top of its many other industrial uses.

To refine bitumen, McNally Bharat Engineering recently formed a 50-50 special purpose vehicle with EMC Group of Oman. Sohar Bitumen LLC provided the contract for construction, detailed engineering, construction supervision, mechanical commissioning and supply in Oman. Sohar Bitumen LLC contracted the work for its bitumen refinery in Muscat. 

The bitumen refinery is part of the Sohar Refinery Improvement Project (SRIP), a multi-billion-dollar capital investment undertaken by Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (Orpic). The project comes in response to a sore need to upgrade refining capabilities to help maximize the value of Oman crude oil while at the same time significantly improve the refinery’s environmental performance.

McNally Bharat’s services will allow Oman Orpic to produce bitumen for the first time. When complete, the bitumen project is expected to have an installed capacity of more than 300,000 tons each year.