Oman plans to build a major oil storage terminal on its southeastern coast, spending between $300 million and $400 million on the first phase, Minister of Oil and Gas Mohammad bin Hamad al-Rumhy said on Saturday. It will be built by a subsidiary of state-owned Oman Oil Company (OOC) at Ras Markaz, about 70 kilometres (45 miles) from Duqm, where the government is developing a port and industrial zone, the state agency in charge of the zone quoted Rumhy as saying.
Rumhy did not give a timeline for construction. Low oil prices have strained Oman's state finances and made it harder to fund big infrastructure projects. Rumhy said the terminal would not be financed by the state but through borrowing from banks, including internationally. Ras Markaz is on the Arabian Sea near major shipping routes through the Red Sea to Asia and Africa, and lies outside the crowded Strait of Hormuz, which is vulnerable when political tensions in the region rise.
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