Leading chemicals company Oxea, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oman Oil Company (OOC), is set to make significant investments in a major petrochemicals complex planned downstream of the Duqm Refinery project in the sultanate, said a report.

The Duqm Refinery project is currently under construction at the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Duqm, added the Oman Daily Observer report.

The US-headquartered Oxea plans to set up a plant manufacturing oxo chemicals, which are used in a wide range of products of everyday personal, commercial and household use, said a Duqm SEZ Authority publication.

Reporting on a visit by a high-level Omani delegation to Oxea’s headquarters to Houston, US, recently, the newsletter quoted a high-level official as saying that the company will also provide the technology and specialist expertise in the operation of the project, as well as the marketing of its products.

Hilal Ali al Kharusi, executive managing director of Oman Oil Duqm Development Company — one of the verticals of the restructured Oman Oil Group, described Oxea as a key building block in the downstream value chain that the parent group is eager to develop and sustain as part of its investments in the sultanate. Al Kharusi is also a director on the board of Oxea.

Oman Oil Duqm Development Company is overseeing the development of a mega downstream petrochemical complex which, with an estimated investment of $8 to $10 billion, is set to be the biggest industrial investment in the Sultanate, surpassing in scope and size the Liwa Plastics petrochemical scheme under development in Suhar.