German specialty chemicals manufacturer Oxea, a wholly-owned subsidiary of state firm Oman Oil Company (OOC), is considering building a new petrochemicals plant in the Duqm Special Economic Zone on Oman’s Arabia Sea Coast, according to the Oman Daily Observer. OOC bought Oxea from US private equity firm Advent International in 2013 at a cost of $2.4bn (MEES, 18 October 2013). Oxea is the world’s second largest producer of oxo-chemicals – aldehydes produced by adding synthesis gas (a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen) to olefins, with applications including coatings, solution polymers and solvents – with total production capacity of over 1.3mn t/y. OOC is already involved in a project to build a 230,000 b/d refinery at Duqm. Last week OOC and state downstream firm Orpic announced a merger to create a “solid platform” for growth (MEES, 23 November).