Duqm refinery’s shareholder agreement to be signed soon

Muscat: A shareholder agreement between Oman Oil Company and Kuwait Petroleum International for building Duqm refinery will be finalised soon.
Kuwait Petroleum had shown interest in developing the refinery as a 50:50 equity joint venture with Oman Oil Company last year, after Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Company backed out from the project.
“We will have a financial closure sometime by the middle of this year. We hope to start construction work before this year-end or by early next year,” said Isam Al Zadjali, chief executive officer of the Oman Oil Company.
The plan is to build a 230,000 barrels capacity refinery near the Duqm port in the Al Wusta region.
He said there is no delay in implementing the project. The finance for the project will be arranged in such a way that 60 per cent will be equity and 40 per cent will be project finance. The debt will be mostly from international banks and from export credit agencies, he noted.