Oman has awarded France's GDF Suez contracts to build two power plants with an investment of RO700 million ($1.82 billion) in the Gulf state, a tender board official said on Saturday.

'GDF Suez has signed a 15-year contract with the government in a BOOT (build, own, operate and transfer) model for which the company will spend RO700 million,' the tender board official told Reuters. He declined to be named.

GDF's chief executive Gerard Mestrallet said on Wednesday Oman had picked his company as a preferred bidder for contracts to build the two combined cycled gas-fired Barka 3 and Sohar 2 power plants.

The plants, with a capacity of 750 megawatts each, are expected to be completed in 2013, and Oman will buy electricity from the company for 15 years and then transfer the ownership to the government, the Omani official said.

Electricity demand is increasing about 8 percent a year in Oman due to an expanding economy and the government is looking for private companies to build power plants in a BOOT system.-Reuters