Global PET packaging leader Octal is on track to complete the second phase of its operational expansion this year following a new round of funding from six Middle Eastern banks.

The privately owned, Oman-based manufacturer opened a 400,000 tonne PET resins and sheet packaging facility in the southeast port city of Salalah in January 2009. Phase 2 of the complex, which will be commissioned from June 2012, will add an additional 527,000 tonnes of production, making Octal the world’s largest producer of PET resins on one site and the largest PET manufacturer in the world.

Nicholas P Barakat, managing director of Octal, said: “The completion of the second phase of expansion later will put Octal well on the way to achieving $1.5 billion in annual sales by 2012, as it converts new packaging applications in PET sheet including those for yoghurt, meat and cheese.”

Barakat said Octal was already the world’s largest producer of PET sheet.

“Octal doubled its earnings in 2010 and we expect to do so again this year. By replacing all of Oman’s PET imports, we are also generating significant additional cash flow for the local economy,” he added.

Octal has secured a RO 114 million ($296 million) senior term loan from a group comprising Bank Muscat, Bank Dhofar, National Bank of Oman, Bank Sohar, Ahli Bank and Qatar National Bank.