Duqm is a port town on the Arabian Sea

Arabian Sea

The Arabian Sea is a region of the Indian Ocean bounded on the east by India, on the north by Pakistan and Iran, on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, on the south, approximately, by a line between Cape Guardafui in northeastern Somalia and Kanyakumari in India...

, in central-eastern Oman

Oman

Oman , officially called the Sultanate of Oman , is an Arab state in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by the United Arab Emirates to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the...

.

Duqm was a small fishing settlement of the Janubah tribe on the coast of southern Oman where a party of soldiers of the Muscat and Oman Field Force and geologists of Petroleum Development Oman

Petroleum Development Oman

Petroleum Development of Oman is the foremost exploration and production company in the Sultanate. It accounts for more than 90% of the country's crude-oil production and nearly all of its natural-gas supply...

 was landed in February 1954 to begin the modern oil exploration of central Oman. Today it is an industrial oil town with a notable port, and the town has been looking to increase tourism in the area with the Oman Tourism Development Company. The port has undergone development and a shipbuilding facility to facilitate the port was built. In March 2005, Oman's Ministry of Transport and Communications awarded the Parsons Corporation

Parsons Corporation

Parsons Corporation is an engineering, construction, and technical and management services firm headquartered in Pasadena, California. Founded in 1944 by engineer Ralph M. Parsons, Parsons Corporation is currently one of the largest such companies in the United States, with revenues exceeding...

 a contract to study and design a new Al Duqm Airport in hopes of increasing tourism. In 2008, Intercontinental Hotels announced they were to build a 228 room hotel in Duqm.