Oman-headquartered global integrated energy company OQ Group has completed the construction of a $245.5mn (OMR98mn) gas supply project, running from Saih Nahida to the Duqm Special Economic Zone.
The maximum capacity of the new pipeline – which has a diameter of 36 inches and spans 221km – is 25 million cubic metres of gas per day, while the capacity of the gas station in Duqm is 15 million cubic metres per day.
The newly established facilities span an area of approximately 135,000m2, with the ability to accommodate future expansions of up to an additional 10km2.
The project’s facilities comprise a gas supply station, control rooms, pipelines with full control automation systems, metering stations, an administrative building, offices, meeting rooms, and workshops that are connected to the central control room in the Muscat Governorate.
The gas supply station in Duqm currently supplies to both the Duqm Refinery and Petrochemical Industries Company and the Central Utilities Company through the 221km pipeline.
Despite the restrictions imposed on movement and construction work by the COVID-19 pandemic, the project was implemented according to the scheduled timeline. Construction work began in mid-2017, with the project initially launched in December 2020.
Approximately 5.2 million safe man-hours without lost-time incident have been completed on the project, with the application of the highest health and safety standards.
The general manager of the Gas Network at OQ, Mansoor Ali Al-Abdali, said that the project was completed in line with the company’s strategy to support local industries, according to the state-run Oman News Agency.
Ali Al-Abdali said: “As part of its in-country value-added programme, more than 19,000 tubes were locally packed in the Sohar Pipes Factory, and then transported by land to the construction site through more than 3,800 tankers in a record period of time.
“The project also witnessed the use of the latest technologies such as automatic welding, which is the first time that this type of technology is used in a gas network. The technology enhanced the quality of the project and the speed of completion.”
Duqm Refinery is a downstream complex being developed under a 50% strategic partnership between OQ and Kuwait Petroleum International (KPI).
The Duqm Special Economic Zone along the Arabian Sea coastline will have a refinery capacity of 230,000 barrels of crude per day. Its primary products will also include diesel, jet fuel, naphtha and LPG.
The project is based in Al Duqm, located in the South East Al Wusta Governorate of the Sultanate of Oman. This gives the project a strategic maritime location and a competitive advantage, being in the path of international shipping lines in the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea, thus easing transport in and out of the region.
