Methanol Holding Int'l (50%), MAN Ferrostaal of Germany (20%) and Omzest (30%) are grouped in Oman Methanol Co. (OMC) which has a 3,000 t/d methanol plant built in Sohar in late 2007. Instead of a 5,000 t/d plant to cost over $550m, the partners opted for a smaller unit and this was to cost about $440m. Ferrostaal had the EPC contract. The local Oman Proman Contracting & Trading (OPC) was the main sub-contractor. The gas feedstock is supplied by OGC under a long-term contract signed in 2002. The trading firm Vitol Holding takes whatever is left of the output under an agreement signed in 2002.

Part of OMC's output is supplied to a new $21m formaldehyde plant built by a 50:50 JV of Omzest and Manso Group of Saudi Arabia.

The same OMC partners in November 2005 set up Sohar Methanol Co. (SMC) to have a second 3,000 t/d plant built by mid-2008 beside the first unit. Speaking in Muscat at a Nov. 15-16, 2005, conference on the Port of Sohar, organised jointly by MEED and SIPC, OMC Chief Executive Richard Preece said the new plant would be similar in size to OMC's and would likely cost $400-500m. Costs have since increased in a big way, however.

The gas will be supplied by OGC under a long-term contract. SMC is one of two methanol projects planned in the sultanate.

Salalah Methanol Co. (SMC), owned by OOC, is having a 3,000 t/d methanol plant built in the Salalah free zone. The EPC contract for this was signed on March 12, 2007, with GS Engineering and Construction Co. (GS E&C) of South Korea. SMC was formed in February 2006.

The plant's commercial operations are scheduled to begin in the first half of 2010. Methanol is an intermediary chemical feedstock which is used in manufacturing other chemicals and end-products such as various forms of formaldehyde, acetic acid, MTBE and other industries producing plastics.

OOC, controlled by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and MOG, was created in 1992 to give the government another vehicle for pursuing investment opportunities in the energy sector both inside and outside Oman. OOC assists in Oman's efforts to diversify its economy and helps to generate additional foreign private sector investment in the country.