The Centralised Utilities Company – Marafiq – which is a company owned by OQ announced an increase in power production at the Special Economic Zone in Duqm (SEZAD) after operating a new gas-powered power plant.

The plant was developed in cooperation with the Rural Areas Electricity Company ‘Tanweer’.

Eng. Abdullah Saif Al Farsi, Director General of Operations and Maintenance at Marafiq, said that the new gas-powered plant started operation in 2021 as a replacement for the previous diesel-powered plant.

“The production volume of the new plant reached around 212 GW per hour in the first 10 months of 2022,” he explained.

Al Farsi pointed out that establishing the new gas-powered plant in the Special Economic Zone at Duqm reflects the joint efforts of Marafiq and Tanweer to meet the increasing demand for electricity in the Zone, which sees rapid population and development growth.

The gas-powered plant consists of four mobile gas turbines with a production capacity of 80 megawatts, sufficient to meet Tanweer’s power requirement to cover the needs of the Special Economic Zone at Duqm over the next five years, Al Farsi added.

Commenting on the economic benefit of the new plant, Al Farsi further added that establishing this plant reduces the cost of power production, which in turn decreases the cost of government subsidies for power in the Special Economic Zone at Duqm (SEZAD).

Al Farsi said that using natural gas instead of diesel in power production reduces carbon dioxide emissions and limits environmental pollution. He also explained that the gas-powered plant aims to reduce the annual emissions of carbon dioxide to 90,000 tonnes, which is equivalent to the emissions of about 20,000 cars.

“Marafiq Company is tirelessly working to support the economic and urban development in the Special Economic Zone at Duqm. In this regard, the Company carried out last year the soft commissioning of the Integrated Power and Water Plant that supplies power and water to Duqm Refinery (OQ8) and Oman Tank Terminal Company (OTTCO). In addition, the Company, through its potable water production plant, provided 9,000 cubic metres of potable water per day for residential and commercial purposes,” Eng. Abdullah Al Farsi affirmed.