1. This special advertisement supplement has been produced by for distribution with Oil & Gas Journal
OMAN
Writing a new chapter in history
All along its rugged coastline, and high in the mountain ranges of its desert quarters, historic port cities and
forts bear witness to Oman’s rich heritage of trading and seafaring. In ancient times, dhows from Oman traded
frankincense with the far-off kingdoms of Rome and China. Later, Oman would become home to a maritime empire
that reached as far as Zanzibar in East Africa. Today, the thriving Sultanate of Oman is reasserting its role at the
crossroads of Asia, Europe and Africa and steering a course to a dynamic and prosperous future. The Government of
His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said and its partners in the private sector are investing in new infrastructure
and industries, adding value to the country’s oil and gas resources and creating jobs for Oman’s young and resourceful
people. At the same time, Oman is applying state-of-the-art technologies to sustain its production of hydrocarbons,
developing know-how that is exportable across the Middle East. As traders and travellers from across the world
rediscover its legendary charms, Oman is embarking on a new era of growth and opportunity.
COVER
All production was done by
www.elitesections.com
Project Director: Nathalie Martin-Bea
Photographer: Oscar Segura
Writing: Mark Beresford
Layout: Antonio Caparros
Photos courtesy of: PDO, SOHAR, Oxy, GlassPoint, OOCEP,
Daleel Petroleum, Port of Duqm, Oman Ministry of Tourism
Special thanks to: Oman Ministry of Oil and Gas, Transport
& Communications, Commerce & Industry, the Ministry of
Manpower & Oman Society for Petroleum Services.
Also special thanks to the team of Oil & Gas Journal for their
support and collaboration for this endeavor.

2. Energy sector provides the platform
for new chapter in history
Oman is increasing its output of oil and gas, fueling
diversification, and positioning the Sultanate as a major
economic and diplomatic player in the region
The strategic focus on adding
value in the downstream means
that increasing its LNG export
capacity is not a priority use for
Oman’s surging gas output, Al
Aufi adds. “We are prioritizing
for gas those sectors which create
opportunities for employment,
knowledge transfer and in-country
value,” he says.
“Last year was our largest
ever in terms of investments,”
says Mulham Al Jarf, the Deputy
Chief Executive Officer of the
government-owned Oman Oil
Company (OOC), which is
leading the Sultanate’s investment drive in the energy sector. “We
are looking at how we can add value to Oman’s resources and take
maximum advantage of Oman’s location, which is within a six
hours’ flight of two billion people, with three trillion dollars of trade
passing through our waters every year.”
Increasing investments and production in the upstream are
securing new sources of supply to support Oman’s ambitions in
petrochemicals, power, metals and other downstream sectors. Oil
output has increased by around a third since hitting a low in 2007,
led by national oil company Petroleum Development Oman (PDO),
which is the largest producer in the country and which has become
a global leader in Enhanced Oil Recovery. Meanwhile, the country’s
gas production has more than doubled over the course of the last
decade. From 2018, the BP-operated Khazzan field, the region’s
largest unconventional gas project, will produce over 1 billion cubic
feet of gas per day for Oman’s power-hungry industries.
The strategic development of Oman’s energy sector is cementing
its increasingly important role in diplomacy in the region. Earlier
this year, Oman reached a landmark agreement with Iran, under
which it will construct a $1 billion pipeline. From as early as 2017,
this pipeline will supply the Sultanate with a new source of gas to
support its industrial growth, deepening Oman’s economic ties to
Iran and helping to normalize international relations in the Middle
East. At the same time, as the largest producer of oil and gas in
the region that is not a member of OPEC, the Sultanate is a long-standing
ally of the US, and it has played a key part in the ongoing
rapprochement between Iran and the US. In the event of any further
deterioration in the geopolitical situation in the Middle East, Oman
is also well positioned to capitalize on its strategic location outside
the Strait of Hormuz, and is investing heavily in new shipping,
refining and storage infrastructure all along its coast.
An oasis of political and economic stability in the Middle
East, in recent years the Sultanate of Oman has been
focused on using its hydrocarbon resources and strategic
location to drive industrial development, create jobs for Omanis
and generate value across a wide range of sectors.
Oman is actively courting foreign investment to support its
growth ambitions, in both the upstream and the downstream. In
the upstream, contract terms
for international oil companies
have become more favorable.
Salim Al Aufi, Undersecretary
at the Ministry of Oil and
Gas, says that the country
is in particular interested in
attracting investment from
small, low-cost operators into
mature fields, where they can
maximize production and help
develop local know-how. To
increase foreign investment
in other sectors, last year the
Sultanate organized a high-level
H.E. SALIM BIN NASSER BIN
SAID AL AUFI, Ministry of Oil
and Gas Undersecretary
investment and trade mission that visited three cities in the US,
with whom Oman has had a Free Trade Agreement since 2009.
“There are a lot of investment opportunities in the downstream
that will generate wealth and diversify the economy,” Al Aufi
says. “We are very open to discussing these opportunities with
potential investors.”
PDO sets course for higher production
and greater – In Country Value –
Oman’s national oil company is applying the latest Enhanced
Oil Recovery technologies to sustain long-term production,
while developing local suppliers to meet its requirements
D O Y
with four projects under full-scale implementation. The techniques
used cover the full spectrum of thermal, miscible gas injection, and
chemical technologies. In the coming years, the deployment of this
know-how is set to transform the company’s production profile.
“Today’s production and contribution from EOR represents around
11% of our total output,”Restucci says. “By 2023, we estimate it
will reach a third of our total production. That significant level of
contribution is just around the corner. It is very exciting but equally
daunting, so there is a lot of emphasis on making sure that systems
are in place, from facilities management to more efficient use of
energy and associated technologies.”
PDO’s expertise in enhancing recovery and in managing mature
fields is partly a reflection of the complexity of the geology of
Oman, whose oil and gas reservoirs are generally smaller, deeper
and faster maturing than in other areas of the Middle East.
By rising to the challenges posed by this geology, PDO has become
a world leader in applying technologies to extend field life and
performance. “We have made a virtue of necessity,” Restucci says.
O U K N O W W H A T I S I N Y O U R D N A
?
W E DO
After setting an all-time production record in 2013
and adding new oil reserves to its books, Petroleum
Development Oman (PDO) is now preparing to raise its
long-term production targets.
“Since 2005, we have targeted a plateau of 550,000 barrels of
oil per day, and we have maintained or exceeded that in the last six
years,” says Raoul Restucci, Managing Director. “Our very successful
reserves replacement and our EOR program are now enabling us to
start thinking about a higher production plateau. We are working
on growth projections for review by the Board in the coming year.”
PDO currently accounts for around 70% of Oman’s production
of crude oil and nearly all of its natural gas. The company is
60% owned by the Government of Oman, with Royal Dutch
Shell owning a 34% stake and Total and Partex holding the
remaining shares.
EOR has been at the heart of PDO’s success in maintaining and
increasing its production levels. The company currently has twenty-two
EOR projects under review, design, construction, or piloting,
RAOUL M. RESTUCCI
Petroleum Development Oman
Managing Director
Photo courtesy of Sohar Port

3. priorities. After creating over 10,000 jobs in the last two and a
half years, PDO is already meeting its target of adding 4,000 jobs
per year outside the company.
One of the company’s main strategies for creating employment
is to help establish Super Local Community Contractors,
which are entirely owned by local shareholders and which hire
employees from the community. PDO seconds technical experts
to join the companies to ensure they meet all the necessary
standards and specifications, provides them with financial
consultants and even buys equipment for them. In addition,
the company has established vocational training programs for
Omanis in activities such as welding, scaffolding and electrical
maintenance. All of these programs are certified to the highest
international standards. PDO expects Oman’s oil and gas sector
to spend $64 billion domestically by 2020; its initiatives to
develop the local supplier base will enable thousands of Omanis
to access the job opportunities generated by this spending.
PDO itself awarded contracts worth more than $3.1 billion
to local firms in 2013, and increased its number of Omani
employees by 10%, to a new record of 5,762. “In PDO, beyond
the delivery of oil and gas, our focus is to make sure the
communities in which we operate succeed,” Restucci says. “Job
creation and employment are critical to that.”
A record year for CSR
At the same time as leading Oman’s drive to create greater In
Country Value, PDO is also intensifying its activities in the
area of Corporate Social Responsibility. In April 2014, the
company unveiled its largest ever one-off spending package
with a commitment to invest more than $14 million on 13
separate projects.
The projects in which PDO will be investing include
Muscat’s first drug rehabilitation centre and a new intensive
care unit (ICU) at Khoula Hospital in the city. The company
will also invest in four new public parks and a multi-purpose
hall for social activities and meetings. As part of the package,
PDO will provide further support for the disabled and job
training for women. In addition, it is giving its backing to
an environmental conservation and research project with the
Oman Earthwatch Programme.
“We are embarking on a step change in our social
investment programme and this shows how serious we are
about supporting communities both in our concession area
and beyond,” Restucci said at the signing ceremony for the
agreements. “The funding will provide important amenities,
facilities and support and is further evidence of the company’s
close collaboration with the Government and NGOs to benefit
those in need.”
The company has also confirmed that it will soon announce
plans for a new Gift To The Nation to mark the 45th anniversary
of the rule of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said in 2015.
PDO has a long tradition of marking every five years of the
reign with a Gift To The Nation, which have so far included the
Oil and Gas Exhibition Centre (1995), Planetarium (2000) and
the EcOman Centre (2010).
successes, adding 317 million barrels of oil reserves last year
alone. In 2013, PDO began first production from the Mabrouk
gas discovery that it made the previous year and drilled
20 exploration wells, including 12 conventional oil wells,
six conventional gas wells, and two deep unconventional oil
wells. In coming years, the company will be focusing more on
unconventional oil and on tight gas plays, especially in the deep
accumulations around Khulud.
“We need to address tight and unconventional opportunities,
which tend to be deeper and more complex,” Restucci says. “We
have been extremely encouraged by the results we have achieved so
far. We believe that our tight gas accumulations will be economically
viable. In terms of costs, they are certainly very competitive with
alternatives such as imports. Tight gas can create considerable In
Country Value for Oman.”
Developing In Country Value (ICV), in particular by
supporting local businesses, is one of PDO’s major strategic
“We are continuously testing new boundaries, and currently have
over 70 technology projects underway, many of which are world
firsts.” The benefits of this focus on innovation can be seen at the
Amal West field in southern Oman, where PDO is using solar energy
to produce the steam it injects to enhance oil recovery. This solar
steam technology is allowing the company to reduce the amount of
gas it needs to create steam, taking full advantage of Oman’s solar
resources while freeing up natural gas for other applications that
create more value for the country, such as power generation and
industrial development.
At the same time as developing EOR technologies, PDO is
investing in three multi-billion dollar ‘mega-projects’ at the Rabab-
Harweel, Yibal Khuff and Badour fields. Restucci says that the
Rabab-Harweel Integrated Project is amongst the most complex
onshore developments currently underway anywhere in the
global oil and gas industry. When fully on stream, sour gas will be
produced from very high pressure reservoirs in the Rabab field and
then injected into the Harweel oil field, boosting output by up to
250 million barrels of oil.
PDO’s leadership in EOR and in managing mature oil fields has
not only set the stage for an increase in production targets, but
has also invoked global recognition. At the ADIPEC Excellence
in Energy Awards, PDO won the ‘Best MENA Oilfield/Gas Field
Management Strategy Award’ for Well and Reservoir Management.
“The confidence we are gaining with EOR and our excellence in
managing wells and reservoir facilities enable us to start building a
10 year plateau which is higher than 550,000 bpd,” Restucci says.
The company is also continuing to record major exploratory
Saih Rawl project
The objective of PDO is to engage
efficiently, responsibly and safely in the
exploration, production, development,
storage and transpor tation of
hydrocarbons in the Sultanate of Oman.
To achieve this, we aim to fulfill our
vision at all times: to be renowned
and respected for the excellence of
our people and the value we create
for Oman and all our stakeholders.
www.pdo.co.om
A N D w i t h t h i s D N A o u r g row t h i s u n s to p pa b l e

4. Independent operators bring new life
to the upstream
Occidental Oman is one of a new breed of independent operators
who are helping Oman develop its technology and know-how
Oxy, as the company is known, has been in Oman for over 30
years, operating in the Mukhaizna Field in south-central Oman,
and Blocks 9, 27 and 62 in northern Oman. Over the last three de-cades,
it has increased its gross annual output from less than 5,000
boepd to some 225,000 boepd, with 123,000 boepd gross daily
production coming from Mukhaizna, which Occidental began op-erating
in 2005. In addition, Oxy is also running a highly successful
exploration program in its operations in northern Oman, with a
discovery rate of more than 60%.
Technology has been key to the company’s results, especially
at the Mukhaizna field, where Oxy has implemented one of the
world’s largest steam flood projects to increase oil recovery. To pro-duce
feed water for the steam needed for the project, non-potable
water from multiple sources, such as water separated from oil pro-duction,
is conditioned using various technologies — including
some of the largest mechanical vapor compressors ever built. Every
day, the company injects more than 600,000 barrels of steam into
the reservoir, helping to increase production from Mukhaizna to
more than fifteen times its rate when Oxy assumed operations.
As the largest independent
oil producer in Oman,
Occidental Oman is
the leader of a growing pack of
fast-moving, forward - looking
operators who are bringing new
thinking and new technologies
to the challenges of increasing
Omani oil production.
“New competition is good
for Oman,” says Isam Al Zadjali,
Oman Oil Company CEO
and former Oxy President. “So
ENG. ISAM BIN SAUD
AL ZADJALI, OOC CEO
far, the country has produced
and Former Oxy President
only five billion barrels out of
a potential 50 billion barrels in place. To find another five billion
requires hard work and capital from new sources. It is good for
Oman that the country is so attractive to foreign investors and
that a lot of companies are now setting up shop here.”
Investments in technology
and people drive success
“We have applied multiple technologies for water treatment,”
Al Zadjali explains. “Right from the start, we chose not to rely
on one particular technology but to use various water treatment
processes, so that if something goes wrong all our eggs are not in
one basket. That has been the key to the success of the project.
If there is a problem in one of the water treatment processes at
Mukhaizna, another technology can step in and make sure that
the water is produced.”
The second major ingredient to the success of Oxy and other
independents in Oman has been the quality of the Sultanate’s
human resources. The best technology in the world will be use-less
if the right people are not available to implement it and re-spond
to any problems, Al Zadjali says. “Mukhaizna is not only
a success story for us in achieving our production targets, but it
is also a great example of Omani talent in action. The majority
of people who operate the field are Omanis whom we have put
through a series of different training programs in the US, Europe
and also in Oman.”
Oxy’s commitment to training and development has trans-formed
the shape of its workforce. In September 2005, when
Oxy took over operations of Mukhaizna, the company employed
less than 300 people. Today, the company has a workforce of
more than 3,000 people, of whom over 80% are Omani. “Oman
does not have a shortage of talent”, says Al Zadjali, who is the
first Omani General Manager of Occidental Oman. “The more
locals and nationals that an operator hires, the more it ensures
that technology and knowledge remain in the country.”
The commitment of independent operators to Omanization
and to introducing new technologies bodes well for the future of
the Sultanate’s upstream sector. Salim Al Aufi, Undersecretary at
the Ministry of Oil and Gas, says that the experience of operating
in Oman’s complex fields is also a major advantage for companies
when they enter other regions. “A lot of the independent opera-tors
are transferring knowledge they have gained by working in
Oman to other countries,” he says. “Having Oman on their CV
gives them added credibility, so I think we will continue to see
independents coming here. We really welcome their technology,
knowledge, know-how and their investment in talent.”
www.oxy.com
INVESTING IN GROWTH
OXY OMAN is a dynamic and innovative Oman energy company. Currently at the Mukhaizna Field
OXY has implemented an aggressive drilling and development program, including a major pattern
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Occidental Petroleum Corporation (Oxy) plant

6. At the cutting edge of EOR,
industry trials new technologies
Oman is one of the world’s leading test-beds for innovative EOR
technologies that will increase oil production and save gas
testing ground for enhancements to long-established EOR practices
and for the introduction of new technologies. As a result, a new spe-cialist
industry is emerging, diversifying the economy and creating
high value jobs for Omanis.
“We are specializing more and more in EOR for heavy oil,” An-thony
Helou, Chief Executive Officer of Synergy Petroleum Inter-national
says. Synergy participates in a joint venture that produces
in Oman the vacuum insulated tubes used to inject steam down
holes for EOR. “Oman has a very diverse and challenging geology
for oil extraction, so we provide a unique technology that uses a
special micro-porous material which is the best insulating material
in the world.”
Oman Oil Company Exploration Production (OOCEP) is also
gaining experience in EOR at the Medco-operated Karim cluster, in
order to increase production from these depleting small and marginal
fields. “Oman has a very niche position in prototype and field testing.
The Sultanate has been at the forefront of testing steam and polymers,
and PDO has made a tremendous effort. We have seen a lot of com-mercialization
of prototypes that started in Oman spreading across
the region,” Chief Executive Officer Salim Al Sibani says.
Across the upstream, from the largest majors and national
oil companies to specialist independents, the energy sector
is investing in sophisticated Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR)
techniques to maximize production from fast maturing oilfields.
These investments have turned the Sultanate into the undisputed
centre for EOR research and innovation in the Middle East.
“There is a very significant opportunity to create exportable
know-how in EOR,” Raul Restucci at PDO says. “EOR is a significant
part of our business.” PDO currently has four major EOR field de-velopment
projects on-going, at Marmul, Qarn Alam and Harweel,
using polymers, steam and chemical injection respectively.
“Because Oman has mature reservoirs, it is about 10 to 15 years
ahead of the GCC countries,” says Hilal Al Busaidy, CEO and Co-
Founder of oilfield services company Gulf Energy. “Oman began
using steam flooding for EOR six or seven years ago, while coun-tries
such as Kuwait are only now beginning to look at it for their
heavy oil fields. Oman is really playing a leading role in exporting
EOR technologies to the rest of the region.”
The challenges of Oman’s geology, combined with the commit-ment
of operators to maximizing recovery, have made the country a
By applying 3D seismic technology
and running an accelerated field
development program in Blocks
3 and 4, CC Energy Development
(CCED) has rapidly grown into the
fourth largest producer in Oman.
Previous operators did not
produce meaningful volumes of
oil from the area. However when
SHAHROKH ETEBAR
the privately owned Lebanese
CC Energy Develop-ment
CEO
independent began exploring the
region in 2008, it used 3D seismic and appraised and
developed the wells in parallel to speed up production. By
the beginning of this year, CCED was producing 24,000
bpd from the same blocks.
“As soon we discovered oil we started running 3D
seismic to better define the structures,” Chief Executive
Officer Shahrokh Etebar says. “As we are a small company
with a very professional team, we were then able to bring
the exploration wells onstream almost immediately, in a safe
and environmentally friendly manner. Our goal now is to be
producing 50,000 bpd by 2017.”
PDO uses solar technology
to save gas and increase oil
production
Perhaps the most innovative and promising EOR trial currently
underway in Oman is at Amal West, where PDO is deploying solar
energy technology from GlassPoint to produce the steam it needs.
A solar steam generation pilot started operating in February 2013,
producing low cost steam for use in EOR to extract heavy oil from
the reservoirs. In the first year of its operation, the 7MW pilot
project produced over 13,000 tons of steam, saving almost one
million m3 of gas and 1,800 tons of CO2. The results of the trial
exceeded all expectations and performance targets, and PDO is now
evaluating how to replicate its success on a larger scale.
“Oman has an obvious advantage because of the quality and
intensity of the sunlight it is endowed with,” Restucci says. “Our
pilot plant, which is the largest in the world, is roughly the size of
two football fields. Our next phase is likely going to be a 100 fold
increase on that size. It is very exciting.”
At Amal West, PDO is partnering with US-based GlassPoint
Solar to meet the challenges of generating solar energy in the hot
and dusty conditions of the desert. GlassPoint has designed a new
system, which is based around the construction of a glasshouse that
protects the solar panels from elements such as sand, dust and hu-midity
and reduces costs. “It gives us two key advantages,” Rod
MacGregor, Chief Executive Officer of GlassPoint explains. “The
delicate mirrors, drive systems, and sensors are all indoors, so they
do not get exposed to sand and dust. Secondly, the solar mirrors are
protected from being blown away by the wind, so we use can about
half as much steel and metals than if the mirrors were outside. This
really reduces the cost.”
“We clean the glasshouse with conventional, simple technology,
but we can space these panels close together and do not have
to use exotic materials,” Restucci adds. “The principle is very
simple, but it has proven to be very reliable and low cost, with
high efficiencies and up-times.” The automated system which
washes the glasshouse at night also recaptures the water for reuse,
which is an advantage in Oman’s dry desert environment. Overall,
GlassPoint’s pilot project with PDO recorded 98.6% uptime and
maintained regular operations even during severe dust and sand
storms. GlassPoint says that by using its solar steam generators,
operators can reduce EOR gas consumption by up to 80%.
In Gulf Energy we combine the
experience of personnel, !rst class
equipment with cutting edge
technology and a strong emphasis on
innovation, reliability, quality, integrity
and customer services. This orientation
to customer needs and expectations is
our mean to position Gulf Energy as one
of the most dynamic and fastest
growing innovative solution provider in
the Energy industry in the Middle East
and North Africa (MENA) region.
INNOVATIVE INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS
Telephone: +968.24390800 (Board) Fax: +968. 24390870
P.O. Box: 786, PC 116, MAF, Sultanate of Oman
www.gulfenergy-int.com
From its base in Muscat, Gulf Energy
has established itself as one of the
fastest growing oilfield services
companies in the Middle East.
Gulf Energy works with nearly
all of the major operators in Oman,
providing them with cutting edge
services ranging from coiled tubing
stimulation to enhanced oil recovery,
HILAL AL BUSAIDY
fracking and logging. The company
Gulf Energy CEO
now has nearly 800 employees across
the region. “We have acquired a lot of know-how in Oman’s
mature reservoirs that we can export to countries nearby,” says
Hilal Al Busaidy, CEO and Co-Founder of Gulf Energy.
More than 80% of Gulf Energy’s employees are Omani
nationals. Al Busaidy says that by providing its employees
with access to state-of-the-art technologies and with regular
training, the company is successfully competing with large
multinationals for local talent. As it readies its first public
offering, these investments in people and in research and
development are preparing Gulf Energy for a period of
sustained international growth.
Speed and seismic the key
to CCED success
International growth for
Omani oilfield services
PDO solar Enhanced Oil Recovery project in southern Oman

7. Photo courtesy of GlassPoint
here and that will have a direct impact on jobs because we will hire
people, as well as a positive indirect impact on the sector, as we will
also buy posts from a steel factory in Oman.”
GlassPoint has also opened an office in Kuwait and plans to es-tablish
subsidiaries in other Gulf countries as it begins to explore
opportunities in the region outside the Sultanate. “Oman is a great
place to start as it is the industry leader in EOR,” MacGregor says.
“Oman has been pushing the technology forward, and that makes
it open to new ideas. Because it has taken the initial risk, other
countries will be able to use the technology in the future. The
market is large enough to be able to start here in Oman and then
use it as a launch pad into the region.”
“We have a golden opportunity with EOR to develop our
talents in Oman and then export that capability outside,” Salim
Al Aufi, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Oil and Gas says. “We
can become an international exporter of knowledge and talent.”
New technologies could create
thousands of high-value jobs
Oman’s investments in EOR also have potentially far-reaching
economic consequences well beyond the upstream. Technologies
such as solar energy, polymer and chemical injection can
reduce the industry’s dependence on gas for EOR, and make
gas available for power, for export as LNG and for downstream
industries. PDO has reported what it calls ‘encouraging progress’
at a chemical injection trial at Habhab, and plans to extends its
polymer injection schemes in the Marmul and Nimr areas as well
as investing in solar.
“Today, nearly a quarter of Oman’s gas is used for oil production,
and that percentage continues to increase each year,” MacGregor
says. “By adopting solar steam generation, oil companies can
release these valuable natural gas supplies for use in power
generation, desalination or industrial development, diversifying
Oman’s growing economy.”
Wide-scale deployment of EOR, and in particular of solar
EOR, could create thousands of high value jobs in the Sultanate.
A report published by consultancy Ernst Young in January
2014 forecast that by making gas savings and creating demand
for jobs in the solar supply chain, solar EOR could generate up to
212,000 valuable positions.
Following the success of the pilot, PDO’s Restucci says that the
company is now analyzing how best to take the technology into
the next stage. “We are discussing how we can establish a local
supply chain for many of the components–mirrors, aluminum
infrastructure, the service industry and the associated employment
opportunities that can be created. We are now engaging with
contractors, suppliers and Government entities to progress to
the next stage. And we are also addressing local supply chain
opportunities to secure maximum value beyond the direct impact
to the oil and gas industry.”
“The goal is to get 80% sourced in Oman and to establish a
factory and a localized supply chain,” MacGregor says. “Most of
what we need is available in Oman. We will establish manufacturing
E F F I C I E N T
EFFECTIVE
EXCELLENT
Abraj Energy Services strives to be
a company of excellence providing
regional and international Well
Engineering Design Consultancy,
Well Construction Well Services;
devoting all efforts to ensure
safe, incident-free operations and
customer satisfaction, by utilizing
talented and motivated staff,
highly experienced manpower,
!nest equipment and innovative
technology.
P.O. Box 1156, P.C. 130, Azaiba, Sultanate of Oman Tel: +968 2450 9999 Fax: +968 2450 9998 E-mail: bdm@abrajoman.com www.abrajoman.com
Elite Special 1-3 page.indd 1 5/25/14 3:57 PM
Taking the lead in drilling innovation
One of the largest drilling
contractors in Oman, Abraj
Energy Services currently
operates a fleet of 13 rigs
across the Sultanate for
operators including PDO,
OOCEP, and Occidental
Oman. That number will
rise to at least 20 following
a series of contract wins,
including most recently
from BP, crowning a period of rapid
growth since Abraj first started
activities in 2007.
wwww.synergypetroleum.com
The success of this young
company in the Omani
market has been based
above all on investment in
training and in state-of-the-
art drilling technology.
For Occidental, Abraj
worked with NOV to
design the region’s most
efficient and sophisticated
rigs, automated medium-depth
rigs that are much safer and
much faster to move than their
predecessors.
These technological advantages de-liver
significant financial benefits for
operators; PDO was able to pay for an
upgrade to new Abraj rigs out of the
savings they realized. “Abraj saved a
substantial amount for PDO,” CEO
Ramesh Narasimhan says. “The Abraj
rig project was then one of two selected
on a global basis by Shell. This level
of international recognition is a result
of the performance of our rigs. We
now want to build up our skills and
capabilities so that we are as good as
anybody worldwide.”
Empowered by Innovation
Synergy Petroleum International is a world class developer and service provider
in the oil gas, power, petro-chemical, and water industries. We strive to meet challenges
and provide an effi cient environment for partners while adhering to quality standards.
Since its establishment in 2006, Synergy
Petroleum International (Synergy) has
helped introduce a series of specialist
technologies into the Sultanate of Oman’s
oil and gas sector. According to Anthony
Helou, Executive Director of Synergy,
“Synergy likes to invest in cutting edge
technology, bring it into Oman and
then facilitate its manufacturing or
installation”.
Synergy is part of Al Taher Group,
one of the largest civil contractors in the
Omani oil and gas industry. Although
Synergy also works as a contractor, the
company’s major focus is
on investing in the local
production of proprietary
technology for the Omani
and regional markets.
Majus Synergy Oman,
a joint venture between
Synergy and a UK based
company, produces specialist
vacuum insulated tubing
used to enhance oil recovery,
making it the sole manufacturer of this
type in Oman. Helou says that Synergy
is currently in talks with other specialist
companies who are seeking
to establish themselves in
the region “Our aim is to
partner with pioneering
companies who have
unique technologies and
are looking to establish
themselves in the Middle
East.” He added, “We want
to be known as the company
that introduces innovative
technologies that it then manufactures,
implements and develops to Oman and
the region.”
Innovation for sustainable development
ANTHONY HELOU
Synergy Petroleum Int.
Executive Director
RAMESH NARASIMHAN
Abraj Energy Services
CEO

8. Dover has also selected Oman as
a manufacturing hub for its specialty
artificial products. Since 2011, the
Dover Artificial Lift joint venture has
been producing innovative coiled
sucker rods at its plant in the Raysut
Industrial Estate in Salalah. At Salalah,
Dover benefits not only from proximity
to Oman’s southern oil fields but also
from world-class port facilities; the
plant is the first of its kind in the region
a supply chain in Oman for proppants, the material used to help
with hydraulic fracturing and stimulation, “we want to find ways
to work with companies here on
how to manufacture proppant
in Oman, rather than import
it, creating value in Oman
itself. The proppants could also
be potentially used by other
producers in the country.”
Beyond the upstream,
unconventional gas will support
the development of a range of
downstream industries. BP itself
has signed a memorandum of
understanding with Oman Oil
Company (OOC) to develop
an acetic acid manufacturing plant in Duqm. “There is potential
for gas to provide feedstock for other industrial sectors, such as
petrochemicals, which will help create and sustain employment in
the country,” Campbell says. “The reliable supply of energy to Oman
from the Khazzan project will help enable the country to continue
its fantastic record for economic and social development.”
To maximize the production flow from
their reservoirs, operators in Oman
are increasingly using artificial lift
technologies such as sucker rods and
downhole pumps. In 2010, Dover
Middle East, a subsidiary of the Dover
Corporation, began operating in the
Sultanate to help producers such as
PDO and Occidental increase output
from their wells and reduce their
capital and operating costs.
Despite its huge scale, the Khazzan development, located in
the southern part of Block 61, represents only a small part of
the potential resources of BP’s concession, which is one of the
largest unconventional tight gas accumulations in the Middle
East. According to some estimates, there could be up to 100 tcf
of gas in total in Block 61, distributed across several reservoirs.
Campbell says that BP will begin to work on the appraisal of the
northern area of Block 61 later this year. “We are all very excited
by the potential of BP’s field development plan for the rest of the
block,” Al Aufi says.
The development of tight gas resources of this size could
transform the Omani upstream sector, add value and create
new job opportunities across the economy. To ensure that it has
the technical and human resources it needs, BP has launched a
development program for Omani nationals that will qualify up to
150 technicians, including giving them the chance to work at BP
operating facilities elsewhere in the world. The company is also
investing in training Omani graduates and mid-career staff; over
70% of BP’s staff in Oman are already Omani nationals.
As well as creating high value jobs, investments in
unconventional gas will have major knock-on effects on Oman’s
energy supply chain. Campbell says that BP aims to help develop
and exports much of its output. “Our
installations in Oman and the region
number in the hundreds of wells,” says
Fouad Eid, Regional Vice President of
Dover Middle East. “Today we export
our Made in Oman coiled rod products
mainly to the GCC and our immediate
plan is to expand to North Africa. We
also aim to invest in the assembly and
manufacturing of other artificial lift
products in Oman.”
A new hub for artificial lift
In Khazzan, BP leads the drive towards
the last frontier
After last year’s milestone agreement, BP is now preparing
to unlock the massive unconventional gas reserves of the
Khazzan field
At the end of 2013, the Government of Oman gave
the go-ahead to a project which will transform the
Sultanate’s gas supply, position Oman as the regional
leader in unconventional gas, and power a new stage of industrial
development.
The $16 billion development of the Khazzan tight gas field in
Block 61, operated by BP, will involve a drilling program of around
300 wells over 15 years and deliver plateau production of one
billion cubic feet of gas per day which is a significant contribution
to ensuring continuing stable supplies from domestic sources. First
gas from Khazzan is expected at the end of 2017, with plateau
production set for 2018. In total, the project will produce around 7
trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas over the next thirty years.
BP has already begun drilling the first development wells in what
is by far the largest and most technologically demanding project
in the Omani upstream. “The reservoirs in Khazzan are located in
deep, hard and tight rock, so there are challenges in applying our
technology and expertise to unlock the resource,” Dave Campbell,
BP’s General Manager in Oman, says. “However we have valuable
experience in other parts of BP globally that we will utilise and we
also have proven experience here in Oman.”
BP has a 60% stake in Khazzan, with the remaining 40%
held by the state-owned Oman Oil Company Exploration
Production (OOCEP). The UK-based company is a world leader
in the development of tight gas resources, deploying technologies
such as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracking to stimulate gas
production and increase flows. Campbell says that Oman is set to
become a testing ground for advanced technologies and capabilities,
as BP looks to maximize the recovery of resources from Khazzan’s
deep sandstone reservoirs. “This is a long-term development and
we will continuously improve our knowledge and develop our
capabilities over the years. As well as bringing in know-how from
our other projects, we will also be able to export the knowledge we
gain in Oman into other tight gas basins where we operate.”
“We expect to see significant levels of technology transfer from
BP,” Salim Al Aufi, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Oil and Gas
says. “Khazzan will require a lot of new technology and technical
know-how.”
DAVE CAMPBELL
BP Sultanate of Oman
General Manager

9. OOCEP in the driving seat of
unconventional gas development
Oman Oil Company Exploration Production (OOCEP)
is beginning tight gas production from Block 60, growing
Oman’s gas supply and developing its specialist know-how
In 2010, with the global economy mired in financial crisis, one
of Oman’s newest energy companies made a bold decision.
Although Oman Oil Company Exploration Production
(OOCEP) had only been incorporated the previous year, OOCEP
seized the chance that presented itself when BG pulled out of
exploration in Block 60. “When OOCEP was established, we
thought that we would be an operator within three years, but
in fact we were operating in the very first year,” Chief Executive
Officer Salim Al Sibani says. “Block 60 was the perfect opportunity
for us, so we took the challenge of operating the asset and went
from infancy to maturity almost overnight.”
Four years of development later, OOCEP and the Omani
economy are now poised to reap the benefits of that decision.
After over $1 billion of investment, commercial production from
the Abu Tubul tight gas field in Block 60 is due to come onstream
in the third quarter of this year, exported to the grid from a gas
processing plant via a dedicated 85 kilometre pipeline. “The
development of an unconventional field is complex, involving a
lot of specialized know-how and drilling services,” Al Sibani says.
“Our work on Block 60 has now positioned us to partner with
BP and deploy the same know-how on a much larger scale at the
Khazzan-Makarem field in Block 61.”
OOCEP is the upstream subsidiary of Oman Oil. The company
participates in a range of non-operated assets in Oman, including
Mukhaizna, Karim, Rima and Block 61, as well as in two assets
in Kazakhstan. However, in its core operated assets, it is focused
on unconventional hydrocarbon resources that are of strategic
importance to Oman as the Sultanate aims to meet rising demand
for energy and diversify its sources of production. “For OOCEP,
operating Block 60 instead of just observing from a distance gives
us invaluable experience,” Al Sibani says. “We want to continue
to grow Oman’s gas supply so
that we can fuel demand from
industry and the rest of the
economy.”
As production from Block
60 gets underway, OOCEP is
already implementing ambi-tious
plans for further explo-ration
and production. Later
this year, the company will be
drilling an exploratory well
in the northern part of Block
60, where it believes the po-tential
gas reserves may be
even greater than in the area
of its current operations. It will also be drilling in the vast and
unexplored Block 42, an area of about 25,600 square kilometres,
where OOCEP has acquired new seismic data as it bids to unlock
more of Oman’s unconventional gas potential.
As a result of these investments, the company’s output is
forecast to rise from around 30,000 boepd currently to 100,000
boepd by 2022, driven mainly by its stakes in Block 60 and
Block 61. “We are already identifying new leads within Oman,
in OOCEP concessions or outside, that
could increase our production beyond
that timeframe,” Al Sibani says. “We are
in particular looking at unconventional
potential that was not on the radar until
recently.”
OOCEP’s investments will also help
the Sultanate emerge as a world leader in
the technologies needed for the success-ful
commercial development of deep tight
gas reserves. While much of the world’s
current output of unconventional gas,
mainly in the US, comes from shallow
wells, in Oman tight gas is found much
deeper, at nearly 5000 metres in Block
60 and Block 61. “The Sultanate is at the
forefront of horizontal, multi-stage frack-ing
for deep fields,” Al Sibani says. “Oman
now has the potential to commercialize its
know-how across the region.”
Oman Oil Company Exploration Production LLC (OOCEP) is an upstream oil gas company based in the Sultanate
of Oman. OOCEP is a subsidiary of Oman Oil Company with a primary focus on upstream investments as part of OOC’s
strategy of pursuing local and international energy related investments.
OOCEP’s activities combine the management of investments in non-operated upstream assets in Oman and internationally,
as well as operatorship of upstream and service/midstream businesses in Oman. The aim of such investments is to draw
upon Oman’s experience in the Oil Gas industry to achieve strong operational results and fi nancial returns, pursue oppor-tunities
that will contribute to meeting the future energy needs of the Sultanate, and provide a platform for the professional
development of the Omani workforce.
Abu Tabul (ABB) and Musandam Gas Plant (MGP), Make the Non Conventional….Conventional
Paving the Way for a Brighter Tomorrow...
Musandam gas plant overview
SALIM AL SIBANI
Oman Oil Company
Exploration Production CEO

10. Daleel Petroleum sets sights on EOR, deeper
exploration and unconventional resources
Daleel Petroleum is preparing for a new stage of development
in its Block 5 concession, and is stepping up its spending on
corporate social responsibility
In the twelve years since Daleel Petroleum began operations in
Oman, it has increased production almost tenfold by drilling
more wells and deploying water-flooding techniques. The
company is now preparing for a new phase of exploration and for
the development of unconventional resources, as it embarks on the
next chapter of its concession.
“Our first objective is to increase exploration and the second
is to acquire more data for deeper prospects,” says Gong Changli,
CEO of Daleel Petroleum. “The easy oil will soon be coming to an
end and we are now getting ready for EOR and unconventional.”
Daleel Petroleum is a joint venture between Mazoon Petrogas
SAOC, a subsidiary of Oman’s MB Holding Company, and China
National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). The company was
established in 2002 to operate Block 5 in Oman, which Mazoon
initially acquired from Japex Oman in 2001. When Daleel took over
operation of Block 5, the daily rate of the production from the field
was only about 4,500 bpd. Since then, mainly by using horizontal
well water-flooding technology, it has increased production up to
an average of 40,670 bpd in 2013.
Changli says that the company is now beginning to implement
its strategy for the remaining years of the concession, which lasts
until 2028. Daleel plans to increase its drilling of exploration and
development wells, and it is also acquiring new 3D seismic which
will help it both with the development of current shallow areas and
with the exploration of new prospects. “We hope to start deeper
exploration from early 2016,” Changli says. “So far we have been
targeting only shallow reservoirs, partly because our old seismic
was designed to image only those shallow reservoirs. The new 3D
seismic will cover areas up to around 6,000 metres deep.” Daleel
Photo courtesy of Daleel Petroleum
is also studying the application of various EOR technologies to
increase recovery factors from its reservoirs.
At the same time, the company is preparing to develop tight gas
and unconventional oil reserves in its concession. “The potential
sources within block 5 are the deeper prospects and Natih B,”
Changli says. “For Natih B, we
are currently embarking on
laboratory tests and regional
studies, building on industry
results, to assess the potential
for unconventional oil.”
As its production rises,
Daleel Petroleum is making
an increasing contribution
to Oman’s economic growth.
The company has regularly
upgraded its surface facilities
to enable it to increase the
country’s oil exports; Daleel
is currently investing in
almost doubling its oil export
GONG CHANGLI
Daleel Petroleum CEO
capacity to 67,000 bpd from 35,500, in preparation for future
production growth.
The company is also assisting in the wider social development
of the Sultanate. In terms of employment, it is committed to hiring
increasing numbers of Omanis, especially in managerial positions.
Daleel’s Omanization rate will be nearly 90% by the end of 2014,
and all department managers are already Omanis; “they are the elite
and the backbone of the company,” Changli says.
As well as direct employment, Daleel is creating indirect
employment opportunities in Oman by supporting the growth of
local suppliers, especially small and medium enterprises. Daleel
is making all its efforts to source most of its supplies from local
businesses, and it has made In Country Value an important factor in
its tender procedures. The company also offers trial opportunities
to new suppliers and start-ups.
Away from the world of business, Daleel is committed to
having a favourable impact on Omani society in general. The
company invests in community and sustainable development
in the areas of health, environment and special community
needs, and in particular in education. In collaboration with
the Ministry of Higher Education, it sponsors the education of
twenty students from underprivileged families, and every summer
welcomes a number of undergraduate students onto summer
training programs. “This year we have allocated more funds for
sustainability projects,” Changli says. “We want to contribute even
more to the prosperity of Oman.”

11. Aluminium company ramps up
production, prepares to take on the world
The Oman Aluminium Rolling Company is providing the
Sultanate with a new source of export earnings and jobs
as a potential world leader in rolled aluminium production.
“There are only a handful of companies in the US that can
produce what we produce, and they are all older companies
who are owned by private equity funds that will not want to
invest millions in upgrading their mills to the
quality standards that we have,” Marchbanks
says. “The US market is wide open for us.”
The success of OARC in global aluminium
markets will have a very real impact on local
employment. When running at full capacity,
the rolling mill will directly employ around
250 staff, and all plant operators will be
Omani nationals. “One of our key objectives
is to create jobs,” Marchbanks says. “It is very
rewarding to see how eager the Omanis are to
learn, and the pride they take in what they do.
The first aluminum coil ever produced in this
country was produced here by 100% Omani
operators.”
Following the start-up of operations at its plant in Sohar
in August last year, the Oman Aluminium Rolling
Company is now on-course to complete construction
works and begin the process of ramping up to an annual
production capacity of 140,000 tons of multi-purpose
rolled aluminium sheets.
Ron Marchbanks, Chief Executive Officer of
OARC, says that the company’s rolling mill will
be operating at its full capacity in 2016. OARC
has already applied for an additional allocation
of the natural gas it will need to power all its
furnaces around the clock. At the same time
as finishing construction of its $385 million
plant, OARC has also been producing and
shipping test products to potential customers,
and is already accepting orders from clients
in India, Turkey, the UAE and the US.
OARC’s investment in state-of-the-art casting
technology and automation has positioned it
Commitment, Technology,
Innovation and Eco-friendliness
All Rolled Into One
Committed to protect the environment, through innovative clean
technology and an eco-friendly work culture. With an annual capacity
of 140,000 tons of multi-purpose aluminium coils, backed by state-of-the-
art technology, OARC constantly strives to add value to your lives.
We process aluminium, the most recyclable metal in the world.
www.oman-arc.com
OMAN ALUMINIUM ROLLING COMPANY
Al Fardan Building, Meydan Al Azaiba, Muscat - Sultanate of Oman P.O. Box 1865, PC 133 Tel:+968 24621900 sales@oman-arc.com
Downstream investment boom diversifies
economy and creates regional powerhouse
The Sultanate is witnessing an investment surge in
downstream industries
Located at the crossroads of Asia, the Middle East and Africa,
Oman is positioned to become a major center for the
downstream industries that depend on secure supplies of
energy and raw materials and on easy access to global markets.
“We are going to see a lot more investment in downstream,”
Dr. Ali Masoud Ali Al Sunaidy, the Sultanate’s Minister for
Commerce and Industry, says. “In particular, we expect major
investment projects in sectors such as plastics and steel.”
Alongside spending from state institutions, foreign investors
are also pouring into Oman
from all quarters. In April this
year, the Omani unit of the
giant Indian steel company
Jindal Steel Power, Jindal
Shadeed, commissioned its
Integrated Steel Plant in Sohar,
with a capacity to produce two
million tons per annum (MTPA)
of steel. The plant is Oman’s
first and largest steel melting
shop, and the third largest steel
plant in the Middle East and
Gulf region. Jindal Shadeed
invested over $800 million in
the facility, which began operating just 23 months from the date of
commencement of the work site. Earlier, Jindal Shadeed had set up
a 1.8 MTPA Direct Reduced Iron plant at the site, which has been
operating to its full capacity for the last two years.
Speaking at the commissioning, Naveen Jindal, Chairman of
Jindal Steel Power said “the commissioning of Jindal Shadeed’s
steel melting shop represents one more step in our commitment to
build a comprehensive steel manufacturing facility in the Sultanate
of Oman. The plant will not only meet the growing steel demand
of Oman but will also cater to the needs of entire Gulf region and
Middle East.”
Jindal originally acquired Shadeed Iron and Steel’s 1.5 MTPA
gas-based HBI (hot briquetted iron) plant at Sohar in 2010, for
$500 million. Jindal is using the site as a platform to meet strong
demand for steel in Middle East and North African countries, where
it estimates there is a shortfall of more than 12 million tons. The
new plant will also send much of its production to the local market,
reducing the need for Oman to import the steel it needs for its
current infrastructure investment drive.
In recent years, Sohar has emerged as the leading center of
downstream activity in Oman, adding value to the Sultanate’s natural
resources, especially in the metals and petrochemicals sectors.
“Steel and minerals are an important sector for us,” Jamal T. Aziz,
Chief Executive Officer of the Sohar Freezone says. “Ferrochrome
industries are clustering in the Freezone, using chrome from Oman
and adding value to this raw product. The excellent infrastructure
available at Sohar can support these industries which are very
energy intensive. Also, we expect to have a significant metals
cluster expand here as well.” In addition to Jindal, other Indian
metals companies to establish themselves in Sohar include Indsil,
Dunes, Cabrol and Metkore, joined by Inco of Turkey, Vale of
Brazil, and Sohar Aluminium, a major joint venture between Oman
Oil, TAQA from Abu Dhabi and global metals giant Rio Tinto.
Sohar Aluminium has committed 60% of hot metal output from
its smelter to local downstream industries, for the manufacture of
aluminium-based products.
Also in the metals sector, in June the Sohar Freezone signed a
lease agreement to host the biggest metal producer of its kind outside
of China, creating 125 local jobs. UK-based Tri-Star Resources, the
Oman Investment Fund, and Castell Investments Ltd, will develop
a facility capable of producing 20,000 tons of refined metal ingots.
One of the materials that the venture will produce is antimony
trioxide, and the partners also have the option to develop a gold
sulphide treatment plant.
“Having a major antimony manufacturing facility at Sohar is
significant for global, regional, and local economies. It is also good
news for our business operations, and will put Sohar on the map
when it comes to metal processing as it adds further value to our
ever-growing metals cluster,” Aziz says.
Jindal Shadeed Iron and Steel plant in Sohar
H.E. DR. ALI MASOUD ALI
AL SUNAIDY Minister of
Commerce and Industry
RON MARCHBANKS
Oman Aluminium Rolling
Company CEO

12. Also in Sohar, Orpic is developing the $3.6 billion Liwa Plastics
Project (LPP). This will involve the construction of a steam cracker
which will process lighter feedstocks such as ethane from Orpic’s
refinery and aromatics plant, and Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs)
extracted from natural gas supplies, into a new range of plastics
for the local and international marketplaces. The plant will be
established in Sohar Industrial Port Area, adjacent to the refinery,
and is on schedule for completion during 2018.
The massive project will enable the Sultanate of Oman to produce,
for the first time, polyethylene, the world’s most popular plastic.
The complex will include a 900 thousand ton per year ethylene
cracking plant, a High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) unit, a Linear
Low Density Polyethylene (LLDPE) unit and a new polypropylene
unit that will add to the capacity of the existing polypropylene plant
in Sohar. Orpic received approval for
LPP’s natural gas allocation from the
Ministry of Oil and Gas in 2013.
Upon completion of the
project, Orpic will have a total
annual production capacity of 1.4
million tons of polyethylene and
polypropylene, increasing exports
and helping to develop downstream
industries within Oman.
“The project is moving rapidly
forward and we are determined to
deliver on LPP’s promise for Orpic
and for Oman. It will transform our
company and deliver a ripple of economic value to the nation,”
Musab Al Mahruqi, Chief Executive Officer of Orpic said in
March this year. Orpic says that the plastics project will double
its profitability, by enabling it to extract significantly more value
from every barrel of Omani crude and molecule of gas. Once the
project has been completed, Orpic estimates that 350 people will
be required to manage the facilities, as well as 150 technicians. The
project is also expected to create more than 1,200 indirect jobs in
the Sohar area.
It is no accident that Sohar is leading the way in the development
of Oman downstream industries, from plastics to metals. “We are
creating a circle of integration here, processing raw products to
create semi-finished products, creating consumer products out of
those, and then recycling what remains to complete the circle,”
Jamal T. Aziz says. “This is sustainable development in action.”
“At Sohar we are benefitting from the politically stable
environment in Oman and from our access to raw materials,” he
concludes. “Because of our location on the map, we can also be
an exporting hub for the region, including the huge markets of
India and China.”
“Sohar will continue to grow in downstream,” Minister Al
Sunaidi forecasts. “We want to use the products of the primary
factories in Sohar to create clusters of downstream industries,
diversifying the economy and adding exports and new jobs
for Omanis. We are already seeing Omani companies buying
materials from the primary industries such as steel, aluminium
and plastics to convert into new products. We expect a new wave
of downstream businesses to come and produce in our industrial
estates and free zones.”
Orpic produces paraxylene, one of the major raw materials in the
production of PTA, which in turn is used to make the widely used
plastic PET. “The aromatics plant is going to provide feedstock for
a PTA and PET project, producing material which can be used for
various applications such as plastic bottles and films,” Jamal T. Aziz
says. “As well as PTA and PET, we are also looking at developing
the downstream of other petrochemicals and plastics businesses in
Sohar, such as polypropylene or polyethylene.”
Earlier this year, Orpic signed a $2.8 billion loan agreement which
provides it with the finance for a major upgrade of its refinery in
Sohar. This will enable it to increase its production of petrochemical
feedstocks such as propylene, used to make polypropylene, and to
manufacture new products including bitumen, a raw material for the
production of asphalt. Orpic says the Sohar Refinery Improvement
Project (SRIP) will help maximize the value of Omani crude and
support industrial development in the Sultanate. “SRIP is a major
project that will expand the capabilities of the refinery and of the
petrochemical business in Sohar,” Minister Al Sunaidi says.
Petrochemical downstream
projects maximize the value of
Omani hydrocarbons
Output from large metals companies such as Jindal, Vale and Sohar
Aluminium is stimulating industrial investment and creating jobs
further along the value chain, such as the cables produced by
Oman Aluminium Processing Industries (OAPIL). OAPIL, a $40
million joint venture between Oman Cables Industry and Takamul
Investments Company of Singapore, uses liquid aluminium from
Sohar Aluminium Company to produce around 50,000 metric tons
a year of aluminium rods.
“There are going to be other new downstream facilities built to
use our products,” says Ron Marchbanks, Chief Executive Officer
of the Oman Aluminium Rolling Company, which itself transforms
metal from Sohar Aluminium into sheets. “I would not be surprised
to see other companies considering investing in household foil
plants using our products, as well as in other downstream value
added opportunities in Oman.” A similar trend is emerging in
Oman’s petrochemical sector, where giant production facilities for
plastics and the basic building blocks of chemicals are sending their
output to local companies in Oman, for transformation into high
value products further downstream.
In Sohar, the aromatics and polypropylene production plants
operated by Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries
Company, or Orpic, provide fuels, chemicals and feedstock to Oman
and to the world. Orpic is owned by the Government of Oman and
by the Oman Oil Company, and its output forms the foundation
of Oman’s rapidly developing plastics industry. For example,
SOHAR Port and Freezone set for rapid growth
Ten years after the very
first vessel docked in
Sohar, SOHAR Port and
Freezone has grown to
serve over two thousand
ships annually and is the
largest port development
site in the world. A joint
venture between the
Government of Oman and
Port of Rotterdam, SOHAR
currently receives more than 50 million
tonnes of cargo per year, including dry
and liquid bulk, containers, and general
cargo, all of which is handled at specialist
terminals run by some of the world’s
leading operators. This list includes
Hutchison Whampoa, C. Steinweg Oman,
and Oiltanking Odfjell, among others.
SOHAR Port is the gateway to the
adjacent 45-square kilometer Freezone,
which is attracting some of the largest
foreign investment projects
in Oman, especially in
downstream sectors. A wide
range of businesses have been
drawn by its strategic location
and by the combination of
abundant low-cost energy,
young workforce, customer-orientated
approach, and
incentives that include
100% foreign ownership and
corporate tax holidays of up to 25 years.
“The success of the Freezone has been seen
in its ability to capitalise on its location,
low-cost energy, and its connectivity as
a logistics hub,” says Jamal T. Aziz, CEO
of SOHAR Freezone. “We are creating
opportunities for SME’s and every job
created in the Freezone leads to over three
created in the surrounding economy”.
Double digit growth and sustained
investment totalling US$15 billion
over the past decade is also having a
major impact on the cost of logistics in
the Sultanate. Together with its natural
deep sea port and increased business
interest, the US$130 million expansion
and relocation of SOHAR’s container
terminal has seen container capacities
increased to 1.5 million TEU, which has
allowed larger ships to transport goods
directly to SOHAR rather than relying
on feeder vessels from ports in the UAE.
This is bringing down freight costs and
reducing costs for businesses and for
consumers.
As the Sultanate invests in road and
rail connections from SOHAR to Saudi
Arabia and GCC countries, SOHAR
Port and Freezone is becoming a major
logistical centre for the region. “We have
a potential hinterland of 2.1 billion
people and are within easy reach of 3.5
billion consumers,” says André Toet.
ENG. JAMAL T. AZIZ
Sohar Freezone CEO
Jizan refinery
ANDRE TOET
Sohar Industrial
Port Company CEO

13. Multi-billion dollar investments in
transport build on strategic location
logistics needs, but also to
improve Oman’s connections
to the rest of the region.”
The new Oman Rail
Company has already received
a number of bids for the $15
billion rail project, which will
have a total length of 2,244
kilometers and run from the
Yemeni border in the south to
the UAE border in the north.
Construction work is due to
begin in early 2015, and the
first parts of the network could
be operational by as early as
2018, carrying both passengers and freight trains.
The Ministry of Transport and Communications is also in charge
of projects that aim to increase the capacity of the Sultanate’s road
network and make sure that it can manage the on-going surge in
freight traffic. The main project in the roads portfolio is the $2.6
billion Batinah expressway, a 265 kilometer, eight-lane highway
which will link Muscat to Sohar and to the border with the UAE.
The Ministry has launched a series of tenders for the project,
which will provide the road capacity needed when the Port of
Muscat ends freight operations and transfers all cargo activities to
the Port of Sohar, Oman’s main container port. The expressway is
due to be completed by the end of 2016.
New road and rail
links give ports a
competitive advantage
The development of the road and rail
networks is an essential complement to the
investments that are being made in Oman’s
ports. Oman’s location on major shipping
routes, and outside the Strait of Hormuz,
where political tensions regularly restrict
maritime traffic, delivers the Sultanate with
a major competitive advantage.
By constructing world-class ports, Oman
will be able to serve shippers closer to their
trade routes and at lower cost than at the
more established, and more congested, ports
elsewhere in the region. However, for this
vision to materialize, multi-modal land and
air links to and from the ports will be crucial.
“The rail link to Abu Dhabi and the rest of the GCC will be a
massive boost for us,” says André Toet, Chief Executive Officer of
the Port of Sohar. “When it opens in 2018 it will ultimately make
Sohar a shipping center for the region. There’s also going to be a
direct road link from Sohar to Riyadh, which will also increase
our transshipment volumes as we take traffic away from Jebel Ali,
Dammam and Khalifa.”
“Oman is clearly in the best strategic location to be the
leading logistics solution for the Middle East. With the multi-modal
development in road, rail and air, Sohar can become
one of Oman’s leading centers of transport, complementing
Salalah and Duqm. Because we reach 2.2 billion people, there
are enough growth opportunities for Salalah, Duqm and Sohar.”
Shipping lines are also increasingly using the facilities of
Oman’s ports for key maritime services. At Duqm, the Oman
Drydock Company is already benefitting from a strategic
location which enables shipping customers to save time and
money on their repairs. Chief Executive Officer Yong Duk Park
explains that because Duqm is on the eastern edge of the Arabian
peninsula, ships do not need to divert far from the trading routes
between the Middle East and Asia; “for a ship repair job that
takes two to three weeks, going to Duqm can save customers the
four or five days that it takes to go through the straits of Hormuz
and back, and that’s a major advantage.”
At Sohar, the Oman International Container Terminal
(OICT) is also preparing to reap the benefits of investments
in multi-modal transport infrastructure. “A port is basically an
interface between various modes of transportation, including
sea, road and rail networks,” says Captain Rashid Jamil, Chief
Executive Officer of OICT. “When we are all connected to the
same regional network, the operator with the best and most
cost-efficient service will gain. Our target is to attract all of the
cargoes consumed within Oman and to use the rail link to move
cargo into the UAE.”
Oman is investing in world-class transport infrastructure
and free zones in order to become a major force in regional
transport and logistics
As Oman seeks to maximize the potential of its position
at the center of global trade routes, in the coming years
the Sultanate plans to carry out over $20 billion of
investments in rail, road, ports and airports.
“Oman is realizing that it is in an important and strategic
location and we are gradually trying to improve our connectivity
to the rest of the world,” Dr. Ahmed Mohammed Salem Al Futaisi,
the Minister of Transport and Communications says. “Our ports
connect East and West and are becoming an international hub,
and we are also a gateway to the Gulf region.”
The Sultanate’s investments in multimodal transport infra-structure
aim to enhance its links to the rest of the world, and
also to improve connections within the country as a means of
creating jobs and driving social and economic development. At
the same time as increasing the capacity of ports all along its
coastline, from Sohar to Salalah, Oman is also building major
new road and rail links from the ports and economic zones to
each other and to neighboring countries, reducing the risk of
congestion and bottlenecks, cutting the cost of transport and
logistics and positioning the Sultanate as a major trading hub
for the wider area.
The development of a nationwide rail network forms the
centerpiece of this vision. “Our railway projects will connect
the Omani ports to the GCC countries,” Dr. Al Futaisi says.
“Eventually, in the future, they will go through Iraq, Syria,
and up through Turkey. The railway infrastructure that we are
developing is geared not only to support local transport and
OICT container capacity hits new milestone
It’s been a landmark year for Oman
International Container Terminal
(OICT), a joint venture between the
Government of Oman, the world’s
largest port operator, Hutchison Port
Holdings (HPH) and other investors. In
May at the Port of Sohar, OICT began
operating a new $130 million terminal
capable of handling container vessels
of up to 11,000 TEUs with drafts of
up to 18 metres. When the world-class
terminal is fully complete, it will
increase OICT’s annual capacity from
500,000 TEUs to 1.5 million TEUs.
OICT has been operating
in the Port of Sohar since
2007. Its new facility
will enable the company
to handle the spike in
volumes it expects in the
second half of this year,
when Port Sultan Qaboos
in Muscat transfers all
its commercial traffic to
Sohar.
OICT is also considering
investing in an additional terminal at
the Port. “We will be able to expand our
capacity in line with the
growth of cargo volumes,”
says Captain Rashid
Jamil, Chief Executive
Officer of OICT. “At the
end of all this expansion,
the total capacity will be
5 million TEUs. This is
a very exciting moment
in our history. OICT is
working closely with the
Government and the port
Captain RASHID JAMIL
OICT CEO
authority in securing a bright future for
Oman.”
Road infrastructure
H.E. DR. AHMED MOHAMMED
SALEM AL FUTAISI
Minister of Transport and
Communications

14. In Country Value initiative gains
traction across the industry
In February 2012, Oman’s Ministry of Oil and Gas launched
an In Country Value (ICV) Program that aims to transform the
Sultanate’s oil wealth into broader based industrial wealth, by
investing in training and developing new industrial capabilities that
will sustain economic growth when oil and gas production ends.
The ICV strategy will retain spending by the oil and gas industry
within Oman, and use that spending to contribute to increasing
diversification, raising productivity and developing new businesses.
Since the launch of the initiative, the Government, operators,
contractors and academia have been working closely together
to turn this vision into reality. At the launch of the program, the
Ministry established an ICV Committee which is chaired by the
Undersecretary Salim Al Aufi. On this Committee, operators and
representatives from the mid-stream and downstream have worked
together with Government to map potential supply and demand
and design an overall strategy. Operators have also drawn up their
own individual ICV plans to increase their use of locally sourced
goods and services, provide professional training and maximize
the employment of Omanis. Many of the operators have appointed
ICV managers, while ICV pro-visions
have been introduced
into oil and gas contracts and
systems have been developed
to ensure a consistent approach
to implementing and measur-ing
ICV across the industry.
As Oman’s major producer, PDO
is spearheading the ICV drive, in
partnership with other operators
and under the auspices of the
Ministry of Oil and Gas. Manag-ing
Director Raoul Restucci says
that following the Committee’s in-depth analysis of forecast spend-ing,
the local industry in Oman is confident that it can deliver the
goods and services needed. “We know from the supply side that we
have the ability to deliver these opportunities domestically. We have
identified 53 categories, covering a large spectrum of manufactured
LNG carrier prepares for
new demand
Since 2003, the Oman Shipping
Company has been at the forefront
of the development of the
Sultanate’s maritime industry, as
Oman expands its export industries
and demand for shipping services
rises rapidly.
In partnership with Mitsui
O.S.K. Lines, the Government-owned
company has grown into
TARIK MOHAMED
AL JUNAIDI
Oman Shipping Co.
DEPUTY CEO
one of the region’s leading LNG
carrier companies. Deputy CEO
Tarik Mohamed Al Junaidi says that OSC is well positioned
to export any additional LNG from Oman that will become
available in the future; “Our aim is to be the preferred
carrier employed to lift this LNG out of Oman, and we have
all the in-house capabilities and expertise that we need.”
The company has also diversified into bulk transport,
operating the largest bulk carriers in the world, giant Very
Large Ore Carriers (VLOCs) for Brazilian mining company
Vale. “LNG is still our backbone, but we expect to grow in
dry bulk business as well because of the huge developments
that are taking place in Oman,” Al Junaidi says.
of the development of Oman’s transport infrastructure, the ports goods and services and training and development,” Restucci says.
will all be linked by road and rail and will have specific func-tions,”
says Simon Karam, the director of Sarooj Construction and
a leading figure in the Sultanate’s construction industry. “Duqm
will serve the oil industry, with facilities for refining and storing
oil, while Salalah will be more of a transshipment port for getting
goods to the rest of the region.”
These investments in developing free zones and world-class
logistics will also have a major impact on economic growth and
job creation across the Sultanate. “One job in the Sohar Freezone
creates three jobs in the local economy,” says Jamal T. Aziz, CEO
of the Sohar Freezone. “Free zones are beneficial for foreign
investors and they are critical to the prosperity of Oman.”
Free zones thrive as logistical
infrastructure grows rapidly
Investments in air transport are also improving connectivity,
especially to the new industrial centers of Sohar, Salalah and
Duqm. The Oman Airports Management Company (OAMC) is
planning major investments in the airports it operates in all three
cities, to meet the rise in demand for both passenger and freight
traffic, including sea-to-air services. “For both Sohar and Duqm,
cargo will be at least as important as passenger traffic,” Engineer
Saeed Khamis Al Zadjali at OAMC says. “A multi-modal approach
will be required; large volumes of freight will be transported by
rail and road but there will also be a specific role for air transport.”
In June the Special Economic Zone Authority of Duqm
(SEZAD) awarded the third package of Duqm Airport projects,
including a passenger terminal and cargo terminal, following the
completion of the runway. The initial capacity of the airport will
be 500,000 passengers a year. The air cargo terminal will handle
about 25,000 tons of cargo per annum.
World-class transport infrastructure will be critical to ensuring
that these industrial centers continue to drive the expansion and
diversification of the Omani economy. For the oil and gas indus-try
in particular, investments being made at Duqm will provide
the sector with the specific facilities that it needs to import heavy
cargo and export oil and refined products. “The Port of Duqm is
in the center of international transport flows and will benefit from
those streams of traffic of bulk, containers and oil,” Rien Van de
Ven, Chief Executive Officer of the Port says. “It will be a very
logical hub for oil transport.”
In addition to their fast developing transport systems, free
zones such as Sohar and Duqm also provide investors with a
range of incentives in soft infrastructure, such as 100% foreign
ownership, free repatriation of profits, exemption from customs
duties, land leases of up to 50 years’ length, company registra-tion
in under 48 hours, and simplified and flexible customs pro-cedures.
By creating a world-class business environment, these
zones are unlocking the potential of the Sultanate as a center for
shipping, logistics, and export-based industries.
Although there is some degree of competition between them,
the various ports and industrial zones in Oman each have differ-ent
specialties and complementarities. “Within the overall vision
H.E. DR. MOHAMMED BIN
HAMAD AL RUMHY
Minister of Oil and Gas
A new force in ship repairs
A little more than three years
after beginning its operations,
Oman Drydock Company
(ODC) is well on its way to be-coming
the leading drydock fa-cility
in the Middle East.
A partnership between South
Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding
and Marine Engineering Co.
(DSME) and the Government of
Oman, ODC has already repaired
over 200 vessels at its massive
YONG DUK PARK
Oman Drydock
Company CEO
shipyard at the Port of Duqm. Chief Executive Officer
Yong Duk Park says that over 60% of these repairs have
been carried out on ships from the oil and gas sector. The
Port’s strategic location on Asian shipping routes and the
experience and world-class technology contributed by
DSME has attracted customers from around the world.
ODC also provides services to shipping lines from Greece,
the UAE, India and as far afield as the US.
ODC is currently expanding into the offshore repair sector
and into the LNG carrier repair market. “We know that we
can deliver on time, cost, and quality,” Park says.
Crossing the Oceans to Secure the Future
oman shipping company s.a.o.c.
In partnership, Government, operators and contractors are
embedding the principles that will help develop a world-class
local workforce and supply chain

15. Photo courtesy of Duqm Port
Building the foundations for a sustainable future
YOUR GATEWAY TO INVESTMENT IN OMAN
The construction of the new MUSCAT INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT and SALALAH
AIRPORT is the largest infrastructure project the Omani government has undertaken
in its history. Additionally, the Oman Airport Management Company is leasing
industrial lands at the new Muscat International Airport which is an excellent
opportunity for companies looking to grow in Oman and throughout the region.
Developing the local
workforce is a strategic priority
Overall, the Committee estimates that the ICV strategy can unlock
up to $64 billion of spending in the oil and gas supply chain
by 2020 in developing local industry, employment and skills. In
the same timeframe, the industry plans to create from 10,000
to 15,000 direct jobs and up to 45,000 indirect jobs, as well as
training 36,000 people.
Currently, the number of Omanis working for the oil and gas
industry is around 22,000, out of a total of 55,000. The directly
employed workforce of the oil and gas companies has the highest
levels of Omanisation, at 63%, while 59% of service provider
employees and only 25% of construction workers are Omani.
Across the entire industry, although 78% of managerial positions
are filled by Omanis, in semi-skilled positions the level of
Omanisation is 27%, while for engineers it is 39% and technicians
it is 58%. However, by 2020, the ICV Committee forecasts that
the number of jobs required by the oil and gas industry will reach
over 72,000 which represents a significant opportunity to increase
levels of Omanisation across the sector.
To make sure that Oman can seize this opportunity and
meet the demand, investment in training is at the heart of the
ICV program. “We have frequent meetings with the Ministry of
Education and of Manpower to realign the industry’s demands
with vocational training programs,” Restucci says. “Oman has
invested significantly in providing and upgrading schooling and
training facilities across the country. At PDO, we have put a lot of
emphasis on aligning not just PDO’s requirements, but the whole
industry’s requirements. We are trying to integrate our PDO and
Shell standards with those of BP, Oxy, OOC and other operators
and this is dramatically reducing the amount of retraining that
each company has to do when people move jobs.”
The Government of Oman has set up specialist institutes to
train Omanis for skilled and semi-skilled positions in the industry,
providing a range of vocational and professional training,
including courses for internationally recognized qualifications in
areas such as welding and bachelor degree programs in petroleum
engineering. “The Ministry continuously coordinates with the
oil and gas sector and trains the national manpower in various
technical specializations,” Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin
Abdullah Al Bakri, the Minister of Manpower says. “The Ministry
supports any effort to train and qualify the national workforce, to
enable the Omani youth to join the labor market, especially in the
oil and gas industry.”
Smaller operators are also playing a major part in increasing
Omanisation levels. “We have a lot of non-technical Omani
workers but we would like to increase the percentage of technical
Omani employees,” Shahrokh Etebar, Chief Executive Officer of
CCED says. “This is why we bring them in and train them in
collaboration with the Ministry of Manpower.”
“We have to accelerate our programs for training to develop
the national workforce,” Simon Karam, Chairman of the Joint
Committee for Omanisation in Oil Gas and Director of Sarooj
Construction says. “If there is no coordination between the industry
and the education system, then progress will not advance”.
As the gateways to a rapidly expanding
economy, Oman’s airports are handling
ever growing volumes of passenger
and cargo traffic. In response to
this rise in demand, Oman Airports
Management Company (OAMC) is
carrying out major investments in
new capacity across the country.
At Muscat, where OAMC is experiencing
double-digit growth in passenger traffic,
a new terminal will soon boost the
airport’s annual capacity to 12 million
passengers a year. OAMC is also set to
manage a series of new regional airports
that are currently under
construction, including Duqm
and Sohar. “Our focus for both
these airports is to support
industrial development and
diversification,” says Engineer
Saeed Khamis Al Zadjali,
Acting CEO of OAMC. “At
Duqm we expect there will
soon be huge demand for
regular business services.”
With the requirements
of the oil and gas industry in mind,
OAMC is planning to build full
service cargo terminals
at all of the airports it
manages. Thanks to this
new infrastructure, the
industry will be able
to fly in the machinery,
equipment and materials
that it needs. “With
the speed of today’s
industrial development
in Oman, there is a real
requirement for air freight
to enable speed of delivery and just-in-time
supplies,” Al Zadjali says.
Surge in traffic triggers airport expansion
Engineer SAEED
KHAMIS AL ZADJALI
OAMC Acting CEO
For over 40 years, Simon
Karam has been a leader in the
private sector’s contribution
to Oman’s economic develop-ment,
growing his business
into one of the largest con-struction
companies in the
Middle East.
The strategic priority of
Karam’s current venture,
Sarooj Construction is to
support the expansion and
diversification of Oman’s oil
and gas industry. “Oil and gas is our main
focus as a group and provides
us with around 50% of our
revenues,” Karam says. “It is a
very active sector right now,
and is driving In Country
Value”. Another sector that
Sarooj is developing is marine
works which represents 30%
of the company’s turnover.
“By developing our expertise
we aim to become a regional
player”.
In less than ten years,
Lebanon-born Karam has built Sarooj
into one of the Sultanate’s five largest
construction firms, and it is now
providing a range of core engineering
services at the giant Musandam Gas
Plant that OOCEP is building in
northern Oman. Sarooj represents
Karam’s latest contribution to the
development of Oman, a country
to which he has dedicated his life.
“I originally came here for 14 days,
and that was 43 years ago!” Karam
says. “I now want to do even more for
the country and in particular for the
ordinary citizens of Oman.”
SIMON KARAM
Chairman of the
Joint Committee for
Omanisation in Oil
Gas, Director of
Sarooj Construction

16. Encouraging start on the
long road to 2020
The ICV initiative is less than three years old, and senior
voices in the industry warn that Oman is at the beginning of a
marathon, not a sprint. Nevertheless, the progress made since the
launch of the ICV strategy has been ahead of all expectations.
As well as presenting two waves of ICV business opportunities for
local suppliers, the industry has also agreed on a standard set of
ICV terms and conditions, as well as criteria for evaluating ICV
and for monitoring and reporting each company’s progress. This
initiative - accompanied by greater training and a better focus on
education - has given a great boost for SME’s. “We need to develop
the SME’s and entrepreneurial spirit in Oman for the sustainable
development of our economy”, says Simon Karam. In addition, a
new Joint Supplier Registration System (JSRS) has been developed
for the oil and gas sector. This initiative aims to provide a common
supplier database for the industry, replacing the numerous
separate databases of the Ministry and the various operators. The
establishment of the JSRS will make it easier for approved Omani
suppliers to find business opportunities in the procurement
programs of operators in Oman. Further into the future, the JSRS
will also provide Omani businesses with exposure to international
opportunities; as the ICV strategy helps the Sultanate develop
a world-class workforce and a world-class supply chain that
will generate a new source of export earnings for the country.
Heartened by the impact of ICV on the oil and gas industry, the
Government is now looking at applying ICV within other strategic
economic sectors, including tourism and transport.
ICV is now an integral part of the contracting and procu-rement
processes at major operators. “BP has a role to play by
maximizing our in-country spending with local suppliers and
small and medium-sized companies,” Dave Campbell, General
Manager of BP in Oman says. “As part of our ICV strategy, we are
working on how to encourage our global suppliers to integrate as
much local content as possible into their work. We’ve had some
important successes already, such as with a recent project to
drill water wells and construct a water pipeline for the Khazzan
project, which will include a significant degree of local content.”
Two ICV Conferences in Muscat, held in December last
year and in June this year, have launched two waves of
business opportunities for Omani companies, out of the total
of 53 categories that were initially identified. In December,
PDO discussed ten opportunities, including the potential to
develop capabilities to design and manufacture valves in Oman
rather than importing them from abroad. PDO estimates that
substituting imports of valves through a local supply could
create up $75 million in ICV and as many as 330 jobs. PDO
also forecasts that a local supplier of a mobile facility for treating
the water it needs for hydraulic fracking could earn up to $27
million just from PDO by the year 2020.
Other opportunities that PDO presented at the Conference
included the manufacturing of carbon steel pipes and, in
partnership with BP, the local development of drilling rigs.
In June, PDO presented the second wave of opportunities
for local business development. The most significant of these
opportunities is the chance to set up regional maintenance
hubs around the concession areas of the various oil and gas
operators in the country. Other opportunities presented by
PDO included the manufacture of shaker screens, which are
specialized equipment for filtering solids from drilling fluids,
and technology for cleaning and inspecting pipelines. More
opportunities for domestic firms are expected to be announced
in Wave 3 by the end of the year; “every three or four months,
there is going to be a new wave of ICV opportunities that cover
the entire sphere of operations,” Restucci says.
At the June conference in Muscat, Dr. Mohammed bin Hamad
Al Rumhy, Minister of Oil and Gas, said “this is all about retaining
more of the industry’s expenditure in-country so it can benefit
business development, contribute to human capability building
and stimulate productivity in the Omani economy.”
“If public and private sectors work together and devote
sufficient resources, energy, time and manpower we can
transform the economic prospects of thousands of Omani citizens
and businesses,” Restucci said at same event. “The oil and gas
industry, in partnership with the Ministry of Oil and Gas, is in a
pivotal position to support Oman’s economic development and
diversification.”
Port of Duqm
OMAN’S STRATEGIC CENTRE
FOR TRADE AND INDUSTRY
The Port of Duqm forms a key part of the current infrastructure
expansion in Oman and plays a strategic role as an export point as
well as a supply port for the country’’’’’’’’’’’s oil and gas sector which make
it a vital part of the country’’’’’’’’’’’s economy.
Port of Duqm has the potential to develop into one of the Middle
East’’’’’’’’’’s largest, business-friendly and most stable ports.
The Port of Duqm is open to investment.
www.portduqm.com
Oil demands fuel
Port of Duqm’s growth
The oil and gas sector is a major
driving force behind the Port of
Duqm’s emergence as a regional
industrial hub. Port of Duqm
Company, a joint venture between
the Government of Oman and the
Port of Antwerp in Belgium, is
currently investing in the devel-opment
of a liquids terminal in
RIEN VAN DE VEN
Port of Duqm
CEO
partnership with Oman Oil. This
jetty will supply the huge refining
complex that is being planned at
Duqm with crude feedstock and load its liquid output for
export. The refinery will have a capacity to process about
230,000 barrels per day, and the port will ship out the re-fined
products and petrochemicals. “The terminal should
be ready about six months before the refinery starts up
end of 2018,” says Rien Van de Ven, CEO of the Port.
“When the refinery starts running, the turnover of the
Port will double. It illustrates just how important oil is for
the Port of Duqm.”
Major drive to grow the
domestic supply chain
A strategic priority for contractors, independents and major
operators across Oman is to substitute expatriate workers with
trained Omani nationals. “The oil industry as a whole has been
guilty in not preparing a continuous flow of human talent,”
says Isam Al Zadjali, Oman Oil Company CEO and former Oxy
President, one of the founding members of the ICV Committee.
“There is now a huge gap between the people who are about
to retire and the young people that we have recently hired.
Occidental Oman has been working with various universities
and we have developed a special training program for the locals
together with the Ministry of Manpower and the vocational
college. Occidental also reviewed the oil and gas program in
the technical college of Oman.”
According to OPAL, the Oman Society for Petroleum
Services, as a result of the ICV initiative, more than 80% of
the direct sourcing of oil and gas companies operating in the
Sultanate is now carried out using local contractors, agents and
suppliers.
Investment in the upstream and in particular in non-conventional
gas is delivering a series of opportunities for
Omani manufacturers and service providers, in business
segments as varied as pipe inspection, security fencing and
the fabrication of insulation material and carbon steel pipes.
The successful application of the ICV strategy will encourage
the development of locally made materials, introduce new
technologies and grow Oman’s export industries.
OOCEP rig site
Port of Duqm workers

17. Travellers discover the Middle East’s
most diverse destination
Unspoiled by time or by unplanned development, Oman’s
natural and cultural resources are attracting increasing visitors
from across the region and beyond
Tiwi Beach, the extraordinary blowholes of Mughsayl Bay, the
world-famous turtle reserve of Ras Al Hadd and the lagoons of
Dhofar, where flamingos will often be your only company. Dhofar
and its capital Salalah have in
particular become popular
destinations during the summer
months, when the light rains
of the monsoon, or Khareef,
bring respite to visitors escaping
the relentless heat elsewhere in
the Gulf.
For those looking for more
than just sunbathing and
swimming, the warm waters
of Oman are prized for their
coral reefs and marine life and
are perfect for activities such as
snorkelling, diving and deep-sea
fishing. Appropriately for
a country with such a proud maritime history, the Sultanate’s
coastal cities and marinas have also become popular ports of call
for yachts and cruise ships.
It is not only the coastline that provides visitors to Oman with
an opportunity for adventure and exploring the unknown. The vast
and often mountainous interior of the country is also opening up
to trekkers and climbers, many of whom come here to tackle Jebel
Shams, the Mountain of the Sun, the highest peak in the Arabian
peninsula, standing some 3,000 metres above sea level. “Oman
is endowed with a long series of rugged mountains extending all
across the country from the far north to the deep south,” Oman’s
Minister of Tourism, Ahmed bin Nasser Al Mahrizi says. “We have
a lot of opportunities to develop adventure tourism products,
especially for rock climbing, caving and trekking.”
One of the most popular activities for tourists in Oman is to take
a four-wheel drive tour of the desert, driving into the empty quarter
and camping under the stars of the desert sky. Travellers can also
take the chance to sleep at some of the over 500 forts, castles, and
old mountain villages dotted throughout the country, each of which
are living witnesses to Oman’s history and enduring values.
Increasing numbers of discerning travellers are now hearing
the call of Oman. Tourist numbers to the Sultanate have doubled
since 2005, reaching 2.2 million in 2013. Al Mahrizi says that
the country is investing in new airport capacity and hotels, while
the Omani people are preparing to receive ever rising numbers of
visitors from around the world with their timeless welcome; “the
people of Oman are extremely hospitable to all our visitors and
every guest who comes here feels at home.”
Photo courtesy of Tourism Ministry
H.E. AHMED BIN NASSER
BIN HAMED AL MAHRIZI
Minister of Tourism
In recent years, Oman has emerged as one of the most popular
destinations in the Middle East, providing travellers with a unique
combination of old world history and hospitality, spectacular
scenery and a taste of adventure.
Oman has safeguarded its heritage carefully. While other cities
in the Middle East have fallen foul of urban sprawl, pollution
and ostentatious development, Muscat has managed to preserve
its historic charms while still enjoying rapid economic growth.
Skyscrapers and high rise buildings are not allowed here, and the
city provides welcome relief for residents of the glass and cement
jungles elsewhere in the region. Last year, over 857,000 visitors
from Gulf countries came to Muscat to stroll along the historic
Corniche, enjoy traditional Omani cuisine and soak up the city’s
sense of history and tradition.
But make no mistake; Oman’s capital is also a thriving and busy
modern city, home to the bustling Mutrah Souq, one of the liveliest
and most atmospheric of all traditional Arab markets. Meanwhile
Muscat’s newest treasure, the Royal Opera House, has raised Oman’s
profile on the international cultural map, while the Sultan Qaboos
Grand Mosque is a landmark of modern Islamic architecture.
As well as its cultural and historic charms, Muscat is home
to Qurum Beach, perhaps the most popular and certainly the
busiest of the beaches that line Oman’s thousands of kilometres
of coastline. The Sultanate’s many and varied beaches have long
been among the most celebrated in the region. Further afield
from Muscat, they include the white sands and rock pools of