Orpic Logistics inks deals for $320m Oman pipeline project

18/12/2014 20:44 AST

Orpic Logistics Company (OLC) has awarded an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract and a financing deal for a major pipeline project worth $320 million in Oman.

OLC is a joint venture between Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries (Orpic) and and the Spanish company Compañía Logística de Hidrocarburos (CLH).

The EPC contract and the financing agreement for the 280-km long Muscat Sohar Product Pipeline project (MSPP) was signed on Tuesday.

The construction of the pipeline and oil tanks facility will start in the first quarter of 2015 and the project is due to be commissioned in the second quarter of 2017, reported the Times of Oman.

The MSPP project will be a two-way multi-product pipeline, the first-of-its-kind to be constructed in Oman, and the new pipeline network will eliminate the need for Orpic to ship and truck refined products, the report said.

It will connect Orpic's Mina Al Fahal and Sohar refineries through a 280-km pipeline to an intermediate distribution and storage facility at Jifnain in the Wilayat of Seeb, as well as a new storage facility at Muscat International Airport, which will receive aviation fuel directly from the pipeline.

As per the deal, the Oman-based Gulf Petrochemcial Services (GPS) company will be the lead contractor in the EPC contract. It will be supported by Abantia, a Spanish construction company, which has experience in terminal construction, along with Diseprosa, an engineering company based in Spain, the report added.

The financing agreement, which will cover 70 per cent of the project value, has been given to Ahlibank and Ahli United Bank (AUB).

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