OTTCO Appoints Instinctif Partners for Global Role

Instinctif Partners’ Middle East team has won the global communications brief for the Oman Tank Terminal Company (OTTCO).

When fully constructed, OTTCO will provide a storage, import, export and blending facility for 200 million barrels of crude oil at the Ras Markaz Crude Oil Terminal on Oman’s Indian Ocean coast. The facility is currently in its final design stages.

Ras Markaz provides a deep water facility approximately 700km south of Muscat and is ideally placed for the world’s largest oil tankers en route to customers in both Asia and the West. It is located a significant distance from the Straits of Hormuz, a notorious choke point for the Gulf’s oil exporters. 

OTTCO expects the Ras Markaz facility to begin phase one of full operations in 2018.  Once complete the facility will connect via a new 440km pipeline to Oman’s main oil pipeline, providing rapid access to the world’s fastest growing markets of East Asia and Asia Pacific.

Commenting on Instinctif Partners’ appointment, Managing Partner Nicholas Lunt said: “OTTCO’s construction and its future operations, alongside the other oil industry developments in the same location, has the potential to turn Oman’s Indian Ocean coastline in to one of the most strategically significant centres of the world’s oil trading industry.  We look forward to working with the OTTCO team in helping realise this opportunity.”

The pitch was led by Instinctif’s Managing Partner in Dubai, Nicholas Lunt and UK Corporate Partner, Tom Batchelar with further support from the consultancy’s China, India and South Africa offices. The Instinctif Partners team will develop and implement OTTCO’s internal and external communications with particular focus on potential customers and investors from around the world.

Mr. Said Al-Maawali, OTTCO’s Project Director, said: “We intend to create a world-class facility that will serve the needs of the global oil industry. We need high quality internal and external communications to help us achieve our corporate objectives and fulfil our social responsibilities to    our country. We believe the Instinctif Partners team has presented a powerful plan and we are excited to be getting this aspect of our development underway.”