OMAN: Oil exploration efforts bearing fruit

MUSCAT — The oil and gas sector is on continuous growth trajectory as the country has reserves which will last at least till 2020, according to the minister of oil and gas. “We have production reserves which will last at least till 2020. Our exploration initiatives are bearing fruits and the signs are quite visible in the economy,” Dr Mohammed bin Hamed al Rumhy, Minister of Oil and Gas, said. Speaking to the Observer on the sidelines of a function in Muscat, Dr Rumhy said more and more companies are attracted to Oman’s investor-friendly climate and they are showing interest in the oil and gas sector. “We are happy with the upstream operations of the ministry as we have more companies coming to the country,” he said, adding, “In the downstream, we expect to produce more and more oil and gas year after year and we are busy with more exploration activities.

We cannot predict the percentage of success of each and every project but we are very optimistic.”

The ministry has three major responsibilities which are upstream, midstream and downstream. “Our upstream is our core business and our target is to sustain the production as long as we can and that can only be achieved if we can add new reserves. In the midstream activities which is the infrastructure and gas distribution activities we undertake a major responsibility of reaching or supplying gas all over Oman and this is extremely important with the day to day sustenance in business. That too is doing very well and we will keep on adding gas networks in the country,” Al Rumhy (pictured) said. “Our downstream responsibilities particularly include refining and refinery products. The growth of consumption of refining and refinery products is very high and our plan is to support the local produce. LNG which is part of our business is also doing well and the market is very vibrant.”

According to the 41th annual agreement of Itochu signed with the ministry, the company will purchase 33,000 barrels of Omani crude per day. Itochu is a shareholder in both Oman LNG and Qalhat LNG and have been lifting LNG since 2006. Additionally, he added, on the petrochemical side we have a big project under Orpic to extract ethane from our gas and that will give us an opportunity to produce ethylene and eventually polyethylene which is a major ingredient in the plastic industry as plastic is taking bigger role in the production sector. “We want to establish ourselves as a major producer of polyethylene in the country.” He said the rapid expansion of infrastructure and the national drive towards development of investor friendly climate, the oil and gas sector is tasked with fuelling growth. “We are asked for more gasoline, more oil as the country is poised for major growth in the coming years. To fuel this growth we need to have more oil and gas products and we are trying to continuously catch up with this march.”