Energy major BP has awarded contracts totalling more than $259 million to local Omani firms as part of the Khazzan high-gas field project in Block 61 in the Sultanate, according to a report.

BP Oman, a partnership of BP and Oman Oil Company Exploration and Production (OOCEP), a wholly owned subsidiary of Oman Oil Company, plans to invest billions of dollars in unlocking Khazzan's prodigious tight gas potential, said the Oman Daily Observer report.

The development phase began early last year following the signing of a commercial agreement with the Omani government in December 2013.

"The Khazzan field development will involve a drilling programme of around 300 wells over a 15-year period, to deliver up to 28 million cubic metres of natural gas a day," BP was quoted as saying in its Sustainability Report.

"In this remote desert location, we are applying innovative technology to access gas locked in hot sandstone almost three miles below the earth's surface. Several hundred wells will be drilled in the field with a combination of horizontal wells and hydraulic fracturing technologies to stimulate production," it noted.

The energy giant said it was "working responsibly to develop and produce natural gas from unconventional resources" at its operations in a number of locations around the world, including tight-gas in Oman.

With a view to ensuring sustainability of water use at its Khazzan operations, BP said it was currently assessing the full project water cycle and water system requirements to maximise the use of each barrel of water, with the aim of reducing its impact to the environment.

Billed as one of the largest unconventional tight gas developments in the Middle East, the Khazzan project involves investment of $16 billion over a period spanning more than 30 years to unlock around seven trillion cu ft of gas and deliver a volume equivalent to around a third of Oman's current total daily domestic gas supply, said the report.

The Block has the potential to be a major new source of gas supply for Oman over several decades, it added.