Muscat (IINA) : Oman Oil Company and Kuwait Petroleum International signed on Monday an agreement to build a refinery worth around $7 billion in the Sultanate’s southern port town of Duqm, AFP reported.

The 50-50 joint venture will have a capacity of 230,000 barrels per day when completed in 2019, Oman Oil Company chief Hilal al-Kharusi said at the signing ceremony in Muscat.

The two partners will provide up to 35 percent of the investment capital, while the rest will be raised from local and international banks, al-Kharusi said.

Kuwait Petroleum CEO Bakheet al-Rashidi said the project serves his company’s strategy of diversifying revenues.

Oman derives 79 percent of its revenues from oil, of which it produces only about one million barrels per day. Whilst, Kuwait has a significant oil wealth and pumps around 2.8 million barrels per day.

Most of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states have introduced austerity measures and have decided on a series of measures to boost non-oil revenues, due to the sharp drop in oil prices since June 2014.