MASCATE, Oman—Chinese investors signed a deal Monday with Oman's government to build an industrial city, including an oil refinery, in the southern port town of Duqm, a joint statement said.
The deal would pave the way for investments worth $10.7 billion by 2022 to finance industrial projects in Duqm, on the Arabian Sea, which Oman is developing in a bid to diversify revenues beyond oil, it said.
The industrial zone would include a refinery with a production capacity of 230,000 barrels per day, a complex for petrochemical industries, cement and automobile assembly plants, and a solar power generation facility among other investments.
By the end of last year, Chinese investments in Oman had exceeded $2 billion while trade between both countries surpassed $17.2 billion, according to the statement released at the signing ceremony in Muscat.
The sultanate derives 79% of its revenues from oil, of which it produces only about one million barrels per day.
Gulf states have been hit hard by a cash crunch due to a sharp drop in oil prices since June 2014.
Most of them have introduced austerity measures and have decided on a series of measures to boost non-oil revenues.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2016
