The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract "involves development of a new terminal storage and pumping facility for ORC in the Mina al-Fahal area, before the mixed feedback is pumped via the 266-kilometre (165-mile) pipeline to Sohar refinery," GPS chairman Sheikh Ahmed Farid al-Ulaqi told AFP.

The project, due for completion in February 2006, also involves the construction of a fresh water basin, an underwater pipeline and an onshore pumping system, he said.

The 116,000-barrel-per-day pipeline will carry residue from the Mina al-Fahal refinery near Muscat to a new refinery in the northeastern city of Sohar where it will be processed further. It is to be constructed at an estimated cost of 85 million dollars.

All rights reserved. copyright 2018 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.