Oman has tendered a $400m planned crude storage facility at Ras Markaz – the biggest in the Middle East.

The first phase of the project, within the Duqm special economic zone, will have a capacity of 6 million barrels, with capacity to expand to almost 200 million barrels in the future, according to sources.

The deadline for bid submissions is 25 May, with a site visit planned for the first week of March 2017.

According to sources, the first phase of the Ras Markaz crude storage terminal will mainly be used to serve the nearly $6bn Duqm refinery, which is currently in the bid evaluation phase.

Subsequent phases are in the pipeline to expand capacity to make the 16-million-square-metre facility in the Al-Wusta province in central Oman one of the largest in the region.

Phase one is expected to be completed in 2019.

Ras Markaz, which is located 70 kilometres south of Duqm, is the closest harbour to the special economic zone and will be able to handle crude super tankers and will be connected via a new 440km pipeline to a crude pipeline from Oman’s main onshore oil fields.

Oman Oil Company, through its subsidiary Oman Tank Terminal Company (OTTCO), is developing the facility at Ras Markaz to offer an alternative crude storage and transportation facility to the Strait of Hormuz.

MEED reported that OTTCO had shortlisted the following firms to submit bids for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) deal for the storage facility:

• China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corporation (China)
• Daewoo Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• Engineering for the Petroleum and Process Industries (Enppi) / Petrojet (Egypt)
• IOT Infrastructure & Energy Services (India)
• Larsen & Toubro (India)
• Punj Lloyd (India)
• Rotary Engineering (UAE)
• Saipem (Italy)
• Samsung C&T (South Korea)
• Van Oord (Netherlands)