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Oiltanking Odfjell Terminals Oman (OOTO) has announced the commissioning of an additional pipeline infrastructure, which is designed to help slash jetty turnaround times at its terminal in Sohar Port and Freezone, Oman.

OOTO has invested US $2.5 million to connect an additional jetty to all clean petroleum product (CPP) pipelines, and to interconnect their jetties. This new pipeline infrastructure project is set to greatly reduce and optimize the turnaround time of vessels and is designed to allow the terminal to perform more operations at the same time.

The jetties can also accommodate Long Range Tankers (LRTs), thus allowing customers to incorporate ship-to-ship-operations between LRTs.

After three months of work to connect all the equipment and to mount a new marine loading arm for gasoline-related products, the additional installations were put into service in mid-February 2014.

"This investment puts customer service at the forefront of activity and underlines SOHAR Port and Freezone’s credentials as an Omani economic powerhouse," Oiltanking said in a statement.

"With this step, OOTO continues to strengthen customer focus and provides unequalled access to liquid bulk storage," Oiltanking added.

Sohar Port and Freezone is a deep sea port and free zone situated in the Sultanate of Oman around 200 kilometres northwest of its capital Muscat. With current investments exceeding US $15 billion, Sohar Port and Freezone is one of the world's largest developments and lies at the centre of global trade routes between Europe and Asia.

Oiltanking Odfjell Terminals & Co LLC is a joint venture of Oiltanking Odfjell Oman BV (70%), Oman Oil Company (25%) and a private investment company (5%). The terminal has a capacity of almost 1.3 million cubic metres and operates 6 deep water berths. The company is specialized in providing tailor-made services to captive and non-captive customers. OOTO is the only liquid storage provider in Sohar Port and Freezone.

Oiltanking is a subsidiary of Marquard & Bahls AG, Germany, a leading privately-owned petroleum company. Oiltanking is the second largest independent tank storage provider for petroleum products, chemicals and gases worldwide. The company owns and operates 75 terminals in 23 countries within Europe, North and South America, Middle East, India as well as Asia. Oiltanking has an overall storage capacity of 23.1 million cubic meters.

Odfjell is a leading company in the global market of transporting chemicals and other specialty bulk liquids as well as providing related logistical services. The fleet totals about 90 ships, trading both globally and regionally.