Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (Apicorp), the multilateral lender owned by the Opec, awarded $100 million (Dh367m) in construction financing to the joint venture building Oman's Duqm oil refinery.
“Once operational, the refinery will play a significant role in boosting Oman’s exports and will be a key driver for the growth of the region, providing investment opportunities for new and related projects,” said Ahmed Ali Attiga, Apicorp’s chief executive, in a statement to media on Sunday.
The Duqm Refinery is a JV between Kuwait Petroleum International and Oman Oil Company. Apicorp’s investment comprises $50m of Sharia-compliant and $50m of conventional financing, and is part of a bigger package from a consortium of international and regional banks to help finance the refinery’s construction.
The total size of the package was not disclosed, however, the construction value of Duqm Refinery is said to be about $5.75bn, according to Apicorp. The lender has committed more than $380m to energy projects across Oman.
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The refinery, whose construction has begun, is situated within the Duqm Special Economic Zone in the South East Al Wusta Governorate of the Sultanate of Oman. The strategic maritime location provides immediate access to international shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea. Once complete, the refinery will have the capacity to process around 230,000 barrels of crude oil per day. Its primary products will be diesel, jet fuel, naphtha and liquefied petroleum gas.
Apicorp’s financing for Duqm is another example of its collaboration with the government of Kuwait, to help finance the latter’s overseas petrochemicals investments.
Kuwait’s other Apicorp-funded projects include MEGlobal in Canada and the Netherlands, the Nghi Son refinery in Vietnam and Equipolymers in Switzerland.
“Our vision is aiming at maximising the value of our natural resources and driving [Kuwait and Oman] towards expanding their economic potential, leading to balanced economic growth,” said Nabil Bourisli, president of Kuwait Petroleum International and chairman of Duqm Refinery.
