December 23, 2022 [S&PGlobal] – OQ Group, previously known as Oman Oil Co., has completed basic construction of the first phase of the Ras Markaz project for storing and exporting crude oil, with capacity of 26.7 million barrels, the official state-run Oman News Agency reported Dec. 17.

The facility, which was built to offer alternative storage options in the Gulf to the Strait of Hormuz, also received the first crude to supply the needs of the upcoming 230,000 b/d Duqm refinery in the first quarter of 2023. Oman Tank Terminal Co. aims to make the Ras Markaz project the largest crude oil storage project in the Middle East, ONA reported.

The Duqm refinery, which is a joint venture between OQ and Kuwait Petroleum International, is 96% complete, ONA reported separately on Dec. 17. It will be commercially operational by the end of 2023, S&P Global Commodity Insights has previously reported.

The Duqm faciilty is connected to Ras Markaz through an 80 km pipeline and has eight large tanks to store crude oil for the refinery.

Oman, the Middle East’s biggest oil producer outside OPEC, exports its crude via the Mina al Fahal terminal in the Gulf of Oman, but having a second export facility at Ras Markaz can help the country deal with surplus production, officials told Duqm Economist Magazine in July.

The Duqm Special Economic Zone and port is the site of several energy infrastructure projects under development and construction.

The refinery, which will cost more than $8 billion, has faced numerous delays since construction started in 2018.

SABIC, the biggest petrochemical maker in the Middle East that is 70% owned by Saudi Aramco, and OQ signed a memorandum of understanding in December2021 to study the development of a petrochemical project in the Duqm free zone.

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