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 Al 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 Fahaland Jifnain Terminal, 25 km between the Jifnain Terminal and Muscat International Airport, and 220 km between the Sohar and Jifnain Terminal.