Oman Oil Company has invited prequalification bids from international energy infrastructure contractors for the construction of a giant crude oil storage terminal at Ras Markaz on the sultanate’s Wusta coast.

The giant facility, billed as one of the largest crude storage facilities in the world when fully operational, is being developed by Oman Tank Terminal Company (OTTCO), a joint venture between Oman Oil Company and its downstream investment unit Takamul Investment Company, reported the Oman Observer.

The winning bidder will be responsible for detailed engineering design, procurement, construction, pre-commissioning and commissioning on a lump sum turnkey basis, it stated.

The invitation to international engineering firms to prequalify for the construction phase underscores the Omani government’s determination to press ahead with the implementation of the project despite the continuing slump in international crude oil prices, said the report.

Known officially as ‘Ras Markaz Crude Oil Park’, the facility will come up at a green-field site spread over an area of around 1,600 hectares located 70 km south of the Duqm Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Oman's newest mega industrial and maritime hub.

At full build-out, the crude oil park will have a capacity to hold around 200 million barrels of crude, it stated.

In the first phase, the Omani firm aims to have a capacity of around 25 million barrels, it added.