Oman has awarded two natural gas pipeline contracts worth RO117.83 million ($306 million) to a group of foreign firms, a project official said.
Indian firm Dodsal is reported to have won a RO47.87-million deal to build a 350-km pipeline from central Oman to the northern city of Sohar, which the government is promoting as an industrial city.
He said a consortium of Italian firms Saipem and Snam, units of Italian energy group Eni, and Athens-based Lebanese Consolidated International Contractors Company won a RO69.96 million contract to build a 700-km pipeline from northwest Oman to the southern city of Salalah, where a private power plant is planned.
"The two projects would take about 30 months to complete," the official said.
The pipeline to Sohar will play an important role in the government's bid to develop gas-driven industries in the city, including a planned $2.5 billion aluminium smelter.