China to build $1bn lithium battery plant in Oman

China-listed Zhongke Electric plans to invest CNY8 billion ($1.1 billion) in a lithium battery material manufacturing facility in Oman, according to a local media report.

The plant will be located in the Sohar Port and Freezone and will be built in two phases, according to Yicai Global, the English-language news service of state-backed Shanghai Media Group, citing a company statement.

Each of the phases, which will take 36 months to complete, will have an annual production capacity of 100,000 tonnes of lithium battery anode materials.

Zhongke may bring in new investors, but gave no further details, the report said.

The Omani project will help meet demand in the overseas market and explore emerging opportunities in the lithium battery supply chain.

The report said Zhongke has postponed construction on its $694 million factory in Morocco. The plant was designed to have an annual output of 100,000 tonnes of lithium-ion battery anode materials.

Zhongke is one of China’s top suppliers of anode materials for lithium-ion batteries. Last year it shipped 225,700 tonnes, earning more than CNY5 billion, the report said.

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In August 2024 Al Roya, an Arabic newspaper, reported that Chinese investment in Oman reached at over $6.6 billion, with 76 percent in the energy and petrochemicals sector.

This year, China’s Shanghai Electric Wind Power Group signed a $200 million agreement to build a wind turbine factory in Oman’s central industrial city of Duqm.

China’s JA Solar will develop a $564 million solar power plant in the north of the country.