Engineering firms have submitted bids for the front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract for a 200 km pipeline to the state-owned Oman Refinery Company.

The estimated $175 million pipeline will link the export terminal of Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) at Mina Al Fahal in Muscat to the planned Sohar refinery in the west of the capital.

Tebodin of the Netherlands, Granherne & Company of the US, Parsons Oman Engineering Company, and Mott McDonald are reported to have submitted bids for the work. The conceptual studies on the project were carried out by Mott McDonald.

Bids for the pipeline construction will be invited by June.

The pipeline will be designed to transport around 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) of a mixture of crude oil and heavy residue to be used as a feedstock for the 75,000 bpd Sohar oil refinery, which is currently under construction.

The Sohar plant is expected to start production in mid-2006.