Oman has awarded Hong Kong's Hutchinson Whampoa a RO50 million ($130 million) contract to build and operate a port terminal in the northern industrial city of Sohar, a statement from Port of Sohar said on Saturday.

"The new terminal will double the port's capacity to 1.5 million (twenty-foot equivalent units) TEU from the current 800,000 TEU. Hutchinson Whampoa will also manage the terminal after completion of the terminal," the statement said.

The terminal, to occupy about 70 hectares of land, is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

Sohar is home to major industries including a 120,000 barrels per day refinery, an aluminium smelter, a free zone and a steel pelletising plant.

Oman's three other ports are in the capital Muscat, Salalah in the south and in the central town of Duqm.-Reuters