Oman will require a toal investment of $5.2bn to develop the world’s largest crude storage facility at Ras Markaz, the client for the scheme said in a statement.

Development of the first phase, for which Oman Tank Terminal Company (OTTCO) is currently evaluating bids, is expected to reach $1.8bn, which covers the costs for constructing crude oil tanks, marine and infrastructure facilities.

Oman is developing Ras Markaz, which is located 70km south of Duqm along the sultanate’s Indian Ocean coast as an alternative to storage hubs in the congested Strait of Hormuz.

While the first phase is expected to have a capacity of 26 million barrels built over a period of ten years, OTTCO’s initial plans were for the facility to reach 200 million barrel capacity.

Phase one, for which five teams submitted bids on 2 July, will also include marine facilities to handle the import and export of crude at a capacity of 100 barrels an hour.

Investment for phase two is expected to be around $925m, while the subsequent three phases would require $1.1bn each.

Work for the first phase of the project includes:

• construction of tanks for the storage of crude oil and its derivatives
• floating platforms and piers for the import and export of crude oil and its derivatives
• pier for the tug boats under water
• 5km to 7km pipelines to receive and export oil
• plant for pumping oil to the tanks
• laboratories
• control rooms
• administrative offices
• safety and securities facilities
• blending terminal

Oman Oil Company, OTTCO’s parent company, and the Special Economic Zone at Duqm signed an agreement to grant the former the rights to land for a period of forty years.

The first phase of the Ras Markaz crude park will set aside 4.4 million barrels capacity to serve the upcoming Duqm Refinery.

Crude storage tanks to service the refinery were tendered as part of the third package on the project, which also includes terminal export facilities, crude pipelines as well as a pumping station. Saipem emerged as the front-runner for the final package, for which bids were submitted in April.

The last package of the 230,000 barrel-a-day refinery includes eight storage tanks with 550,000 barrels capacity each.