Oman bolsters Sohar ship-fuel services in bid to rival UAE port

The traditional houses of the old city district sit surrounded by mountains beside the Muscat harbour (file). Oman, the largest Arab oil producer outside of Opec, is bolstering ship-fuelling services at the container and commodities port of Sohar.

Oman, the largest Arab oil producer outside of Opec, is bolstering ship-fuelling services at the container and commodities port of Sohar as it looks to rival the region’s busiest shipping terminal in the neighbouring United Arab Emirates.Sohar Port and Freezone signed an agreement with Muscat-based Hormuz Marine to begin offering bunkering, as vessel-fuelling is known, services from the middle of September, the shipping facility’s operator said in a statement. Bulking up options for refuelling vessels as they unload or pass by could bolster Sohar’s effort to capture business that’s dominated by Dubai’s Jebel Ali.The Omani port is located outside the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping chokepoint at the mouth of the Arabian Gulf. About a fifth of global crude suppliers pass through Hormuz, an area that’s been plagued with attacks on tankers in recent years. Jebel Ali is located on the UAE’s Gulf coast inside of Hormuz.Sohar is expanding to serve as a container, food and chemicals entrepot for the Arabian Peninsula. Hormuz Marine plans to offer low-sulphur fuel oil, heavier bunkers and marine gasoil to vessels at Sohar, according to the statement. The Omani shipping terminal is a joint venture between the sultanate and the Port of Rotterdam.