Al Hassan Engineering Company has won a contract worth $40.9 million to carry out a range of general construction works linked to the development of the Salalah methanol project, said a report.

According to Oman Daily Observer, the contract was awarded by South Korea’s G S Engineering & Construction Company, who are the Engineering-Procurement-Construction (EPC) contractors for the methanol project.

The state-of-the-art plant is being established by Salalah Methanol Company at an estimated cost of over $900 million (RO 350 million) at a site within the Salalah Free Zone (SFZ).

R Y Katre, senior assistant general manager (Business Development and Tendering), said Al Hassan Engineering’s contract for G S Engineering covered the provision of construction works for utilities, as well as a range of offsite (civil, structural, mechanical and piping) works linked to the methanol project.

An estimated 1,000-strong workforce will be deployed by Al Hassan to carry out its contract, which takes effect from July 1, he said.

Salalah Methanol Company, which is wholly owned by the Oman Oil Company (OOC), is developing a 3,000 metric tonnes per day capacity plant at the SFZ.

Natural gas as feedstock for the project will be supplied by the government through an existing gas pipeline owned by Oman Gas Company.

Commercial operations are scheduled to commence in the first half of 2010.

Significantly, Al Hassan Engineering is also a key subcontractor for G S Engineering in the development of a major petrochemical project owned by Aromatics Oman (AOL) at Sohar.

Al Hassan is carrying out contracts of a total value of around $65 million for the project, says Katre.

The plant, involving a capital investment of around $1.6 billion, will process naphtha from Sohar Refinery Company to produce 814,000 tonnes of paraxylene and 210,000 tonnes benzene per year.

AOL is a joint venture owned 60 per cent by Oman Oil Company, with Oman Refinery Company (ORC) and LG International Corporation each having a 20 per cent.

Al Hassan Engineering is also executing contracts linked to the establishment of power stations for Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) at Mukhaizna and Qarn Alam.

It is also implementing a contract for France’s Alstom, which is constructing a 1000MW captive power plant for the Sohar Aluminium project.

The contract covers mechanical engineering services and erection of steam turbine generators and heat recovery steam generators.