Oman Oil Refineries & Petroleum Industries Company (Orpic) is looking to raise about $170m to partly finance a pipeline linking Muscat to Sohar.

According to banking sources, it has yet to be confirmed whether the funding will be provided in US dollars or Omani rials. The relatively small size of the transaction means the entire debt could be funded by one bank alone.

The Muscat-Sohar pipeline is a 280-kilometre multi-product line connecting Orpic’s Mina al-Fahal refinery in Muscat to its Sohar refinery.

In January this year, Orpic signed a joint venture agreement with Spain’s Compania Logistica de Hidrocarburos (CLH) to construct and operate the pipeline.

The pipeline is one of three major schemes the Omani oil company is developing. The other two are the Sohar refinery improvement project and the Liwa Plastics Project.

Orpic is currently meeting with potential financial advisers to consult on the funding of the $3.6bn Liwa plastics petrochemicals project. Bids for the advisory role were submitted in early May.

The Omani firm secured a $2.8bn loan at the end of April to support the upgrade of its Sohar refinery. A total of 21 local, regional and international banks participated in the facility, including a number of export credit agencies (ECAs). It is one of the largest financings signed in Oman to date. Official financial close is expected in a couple of weeks.

The UK’s HSBC and National Bank of Oman acted as financial advisers on the transaction, having been appointed to the role in June 2012.