A storage project with 25 million barrels of space will open in Oman in 2019, helping to keep the country's oil flowing, Oman Tank Terminal Company (OTTCO) said on Tuesday.

The complex, which will be built at Ras Markaz, is needed as oil storage in Sohar is already full, Said Al Maawali, project director for OTTCO, told the Platts Oil Storage Conference in Amsterdam, the Netherlands..

"It will help them (manage) unforeseen circumstances," Al Maawali said.

The tanks will help boost trading of Oman crude oil futures on the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) by making more oil available that can be delivered against the futures contracts, Al Maawali said, and it would also help guard against price volatility.

He said future phases of the project could expand its capacity to as much as 200 million barrels of storage.

OTTCO last year launched a floating storage on an oil supertanker with 2.1 million barrels of space, awarding contracts to China Oil, Glencore and Oman Trading International (OTI).

Al Maawali said the floating storage was a first step towards marketing the new project, and OTTCO was considering adding another vessel while the on-land tanks were under construction.  - Reuters