Oman is reviving its plans to build a refinery and a petrochemical plant after the projects were shelved last year due to a slowdown in the global economy, a senior official said on Monday.

Oman is a small producer, but its oil is used to set the price for around 12 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude exports to Asia from some of the largest exporters in the world in the Gulf.

'If the study shows positive economic results, then the projects will be developed,' said Nasser Al-Jashmi, the state undersecretary for oil and gas.

Earlier this month, state-run Oman Oil Company (OOC) and Abu Dhabi's IPIC said they would conduct a study to build a petrochemical and a refinery at Duqm.

The government announced plans at the end of 2006 to build the Duqm Refining and Petrochemical Complex, which would see the construction of Oman's third refinery at al-Duqm in the southeast of the country.

The plan, which struggled to get off the ground because of rising costs, would include a 300,000 bpd refinery and a petrochemicals facility including a polypropylene plant with a capacity of 1.2 million to 1.5 million tonnes a year.

Commercial production has been set for 2012. – Reuters