Oman Tank Terminal Company (OTTCO) plans to start operating a floating storage unit later this year to ease trade of crude oil futures on the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME), trade sources said on Tuesday.

The storage will increase monthly trade volumes on the DME by 2 million barrels and help curb price volatility, they said.

OTTCO, majority owned by the Oman Oil Company (OOC), will lease storage space onboard a Very Large Crude Carrier, via a tender process to four companies for a year, they said. Each company will have space to store one cargo, or 500,000 barrels.

The tender could be issued in June or July so that the storage space would be allocated before September when trade in November-loading cargoes starts, the sources said.

OTTCO, a joint venture between OOC and Takamul Investment Company, declined to comment.

Source: Reuters