Duqm: The oil storage terminal at Ras Markaz in the Wilayat of Duqm, managed by OmanTank Terminal Company (OTTCO), is a vital project that targets the storage of all types of crude oil in large quantities outside the Strait of Hormuz. This allows international companies to store their oil at the terminal for any period—short or long term.
The terminal is distinguished by its strategic location in the vicinity of emerging markets—notably in Asia and Africa. This enables merchants and oil importers and exporters to keep their stocks in a safe location that is easily accessible by oil tankers.
The terminal, which occupies an area of 40 square kilometres, can store about 200 million barrels of oil.
The terminal was linked to Duqm Refinery via an 80-km pipeline through which crude oil is transported from Ras Markaz to the refinery. The oil storage facilities include 8 huge oil storage tanks, floating tanks for importing and exporting oil and 7 km-long submarine pipelines to receive and export oil and a station for pumping oil into tanks, in addition to monitoring and control rooms, administrative offices and other facilities related to security and safety equipment.
The facility boasts capacities for mixing different types of crude oil, loading and unloading ships in record times and saving logistical costs.
Eng. Salim Marhoon Al Hashmi, Director General of the Ras Markaz Terminal Project, said that, since January, the terminal has received more than 22 shipments of Omani and Kuwaiti crude oil.
He added that a total of 35 million barrels of crude oil were also imported and pumped from Ras Markaz to Al Duqm Refinery via an oil transportation pipeline.
Al Hashmi told Oman News Agency (ONA) that the local added value of OTTCO stood at about $75.4 million and that the project enhanced In-Country Value (ICV) in the Sultanate of Oman with an estimated volume of about $40 million.
This, he observed, lent support to small and medium enterprises and generated 300 direct and indirect employment opportunities.
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