OGC to link Saih Nihayda to Port of Duqm in Oman
The state-owned Oman Gas Company SAOC (OGC) is preparing to award the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the construction of the gas pipeline between Saih Nihayda and the Port of Duqm in the Sultanate of Oman.
As the main midstream company in Oman, OGC integrated this Duqm Gas Pipeline project in its $3.5 billion program to develop infrastructures in the country.
This program includes the construction of pipelines but also the oil treatment to extract liquid petroleum gas (LPG) and gas processing facilities to produce natural gas liquids (NGL).
Established in 2000, OGC received in fact the mandate from the Government to link the upstream projects in Oman with the future petrochemical industry to drive the domestic growth.
Well know for its heavy crude oil, the Sultanate is also rich of unconventional gas, mostly in the form of tight gas, in the center of the country.
With all the industry located along the coast in the Gulf of Oman or in the Indian Ocean, OGC is to take a critical role to facilitate the development of the downstream sector dominated by local companies from the LPG and NGL resources produced on the upstream side in joint venture with international companies such as BP or Shell.
In this context, OGC started to work on a pipeline project to connect the Saih Nihayda gas processing facility operated by Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) with the Port of Duqm where the other State-owned Oman Oil Company (OOC) is working on a greenfield petrochemical complex, adjacent to refinery.
Oman Gas completed Duqm Gas Pipeline FEED
Initiated in 2012, OGC completed the front end engineering and design (FEED) work end of 2013.
From this FEED work, the Duqm gas pipeline should have a 36-inch diameter and should run along the 230 kilometers between Saih Nihayda and the industrial free zone in the Port of Duqm on the center of Oman.
In 2013, OGC started the pre-qualification of the potential engineering companies to bid for the EPC contract.
The call for tender was released earlier this year inviting contractors to submit their technical and commercial bids in August 2014.
Estimated to require $220 million capital expenditure, the Duqm Gas Pipeline project should be awarded by the end of 2014.
Expected to start operations in 2016, it appears now that Oman Gas should turn on stream its Duqm Gas Pipeline project between PDO Saih Nihayda and OOC Duqm Petrochemical complex in 2017.