LG Water Solutions to supply Ghubrah 3 membranes

16 July 2024

Madrid-headquartered GS Inima has awarded South Korea's LG Water Solutions a contract to supply seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) membranes to the Ghubrah 3 independent water producer (IWP) project in Oman.

LG Water Solutions said it will supply 23,000 units of its SW 440 GR G2 membranes to the project, which is expected to reach commercial operations in 2027.

Oman Power & Water Procurement Company, now known as Nama Power & Water Procurement Company (Nama PWP),  selected GS Inima, in a consortium with local contractor Sogex and Saudi Arabia's Aljomaih Energy & Water Company, to develop the 300,000 cubic-metres-a-day (cm/d) Ghubrah 3 desalination project almost three years ago.

The developer team signed the 20-year water-purchase agreement for the Ghubrah 3 IWP project in February 2024, MEED previously reported.

Once completed, the Ghubrah 3 IWP will become Oman's largest SWRO plant. 

It will supply clean water to an estimated 2.5 million inhabitants in Muscat, while also preserving aquifers, LG Water Solutions said.

Ghubrah 3 will be the fourth Oman SWRO plant to use membranes from LG Water Solutions. 

Once the Ghubrah 3 plant becomes operational, LG Water Solutions’ Nano H2O Reverse Osmosis (RO) membranes will account for more than 50% of Oman's desalination capacity, according to the firm.

 The following plants also utilise LG Water Solutions's RO membranes:

  • Sohar IWP (2016): 250,000 cm/d
  • Salalah IWP (2018): 120,000 cm/d  
  • Barka 5 (2021): 100,000 cm/d

The developer team is expected to reach financial close for the Ghubrah 3 IWP in July.

GS Inima was also selected to develop the Barka 5 IWP in 2021.

Netherlands-based KPMG is the client's financial adviser, the UK’s DLA Piper is the legal adviser and Germany’s Fichtner is the technical adviser for both projects.

Italy's Fisia Italimpianti is a 50% joint-venture partner in the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the two IWPs. GS Inima will account for the remaining 50%.

The EPC contracts for the Ghubrah 3 and Barka 5 IWPs are worth an estimated $330m, MEED previously reported. Construction work on Barka 5 is nearing completion.

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Jennifer Aguinaldo
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