Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (Orpic) is investing $320 million towards building a 290-km pipeline between Muscat and Sohar for transporting refined products, said a report.

The project is expected to start operations by mid-2017, according to the Times of Oman.

The Muscat-Sohar Product Pipeline (MSPP) and the Jifnain terminal project, which are part of the whole scheme, will enable a connection between Orpic’s Mina Al Fahal (MAF) Refinery in Muscat and the Sohar Refinery with a new storage and distribution terminal located in Jifnain via a bi-directional pipeline network, it said.

The pipeline network is split into three sections – 45 km between the Mina Al Fahal and Jifnain terminal, 25 km between the Jifnain terminal and Muscat International Airport, and 220 km between the Sohar and Jifnain terminal.