MUSCAT, OMAN (Dec. 16, 1 p.m. ET) — PET producer and sheet extruder Octal Petrochemicals Fzc LLC of Muscat, Oman, is planning an expansion costing more than $200 million.
The firm will add 1.16 billion pounds of PET capacity at its Salalah, Oman, production plant by June 2012. The firm now has 880 million pounds of PET capacity of which 770 million pounds can be used for on-site sheet production.
Octal Chief Operating Officer Joe Barenberg said in an email that the 43 million-square-foot Salalah plant now has two reactors and will add two more in the expansion. The firm makes sheet directly from molten PET produced at the site. The process cuts energy usage because there are no drying and extrusion screw steps, Barenberg explained.
Octal estimates its annual sales will reach $1.5 billion as a result of the expansion.
The firm mainly sells PET products in North America and Europe but sales to other global regions are rising because of its location near sea routes. Its PET sheet markets include food and consumer packaging.
