RIYADH: A $500 million financing deal has been struck to help fund a direct electricity interconnection project between the Gulf Cooperation Council and Oman.
The GCC Interconnection Authority and Sohar International Bank have signed an agreement for the project, which includes the construction of a double-circuit 400 kilovolt power line linking the UAE’s Al-Silaa station and a station that the Authority will build in Oman.
It also includes the construction of two 400 kV transmission stations in Ibri in Oman and Al-Baynunah in the UAE, equipped with advanced control, protection, and communication systems to ensure efficiency, reliability, and safety.
The agreement aims to enhance energy security at the regional level and increase opportunities for energy trade and exchange between GCC countries, in a strategic step that reflects the depth of integration, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
The agreement was signed in Muscat, in the presence of Mohsen bin Hamad Al-Hadhrami, undersecretary in Oman’s Ministry of Energy and Minerals and chairman of the GCC Interconnection Authority, as well as heads of energy and electricity companies in the country, and the executive management of Sohar International Bank.
