Oman Water Pumps Manufacturing Company (Omanpump) claims to be the only company in Oman which can supply and install deep water pumps up to 1,000 m depth ex-stock and provide technical back-up. Its factory at Rusayl has modern facilities for manufacture, assembly and fabrication of pumps and pumping systems along with advanced facilities for testing and quality control.

This ISO9002-certified company designs, manufactures, tests, installs and commissions a wide range of water pumps - deepwell submersibles, boosters, centrifugal, domestic, fire-fighting, industrial and high-pressure pumps. It also offers a wide range of sewage and wastewater pumps and pumping systems; oil pumps for Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) and refinery applications, turnkey pumping systems and solutions including package plants for special applications.

The company started production in 1988 in collaboration with Grundfos of Denmark for water pumps. As a part of its diversification and in order to serve customers for other pumping applications, Oman Water Pumps collaborated with other leading international pump manufacturers.

A dedicated project management team has also been established in-house to undertake project work/turnkey engineering contracts of specialised nature, also covering the oil industry, environmental protection and renewable energy.

The company has shown a consistent growth year after year, according to V Rajendran Nair, general manager. ''Omanpump has an 80 per cent share of the Omani market where quality products are used,'' he says. ''However, Oman, by itself, isn't a large market and we have begun exploring neighbouring countries such as Yemen.''

Omanpump is targeting on exports of a higher magnitude to its customers in the region for special products and projects.

The company recently completed supply, installation and commissioning of fuel handling pumping system, fire-fighting systems and electromechanical work at Mina Qaboos. Other recent projects include drilling, electromechanical and civil works for the provision of water and electricity to Al Mazyouna and Ayn Mughsail; design and construction of an offshore sea water intake system for Tokyo Kyuei Company for the Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) pre-treatment research facility at Al Hail. The project was turnkey in nature and the first of its kind in Oman funded by the Petroleum Energy Centre and supervised by the Water Reuse Promotional Council of Japan.

It also undertook supply, installation, testing and commissioning of a fire-fighting system and installation of all plant and equipment for the LPG bottling plant at Salalah; and complete electrical renovation of the Shell Oman Marketing Company depot, Salalah for the Ministry of Oil and Gas.

Omanpump was also involved in the design, manufacture, installation, testing, commissioning and maintenance of a solar photo voltaic powered reverse osmosis (RO) plant for Heelat Ar Rakah in Dhofar, says Nair. This project is a pilot project and the first of its kind in the region using solar photo voltaic energy for powering an RO plant. It was commissioned in October 1995 and has performed well over the years, he adds.