Oman Key project and Business Highlights 2014
Although the Sultanate of Oman points only on the seventh position by crude oil proven reserves amongst the Middle-East country it attracts more and more international companies such as BP, PTTEP, Shell or Total to support the national companies Petroleum Development of Oman (PDO), Oman Oil Company (OOC) and Oman Gas Company (OGC) for the exploration production onshore and offshore.
Not belonging to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporter Countries (OPEC), Oman has been developing its oil and gas resources only based on its internal goals and strategy, thus at lowest pace than its neighboring countries so far.
This lowest speed in upstream development was also justified by the nature of oil and gas fields and related high costs as mostly ranked amongst heavy crude oil categories and unconventional natural gas also known for their high sulfur content.
Anyway the sustainable global price of the crude oil around $100 per barrels positions Oman as a new Eldorado for all companies.
Willing to develop its petrochemical sector, Oman is investing heavily in gas field exploration to produce the required quantity of feedstock.
Since most of the fields are located in the center of the Sultanate, these upstream and downstream projects are calling for the deployment of pipeline systems across the country historically concentrated on its northern part along the Gulf of Oman.
In order to balance its economical development across the Sultanate, Oman Authorities are planning to dispatch their capital expenditure in $ multi-bilion projects including refineries, petrochemical complex, storage terminal with all related utilities and power generation facilities.
Oman Gas to award Duqm gas pipeline EPC contract
The state-owned Oman Gas Company SAOC (OGC) is preparing to award the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the construction of the gas pipeline between Saih Nihayda and the Port of Duqm in the Sultanate of Oman. As the main midstream company in Oman, OGC integrated this Duqm Gas Pipeline project in its $3.5 billion program to develop infrastructures in the country.
ORPIC weights options for Liwa Plastics EPC contracts
The engineering company CB&I is about to complete the front end engineering and design (FEED) of the petrochemical complex planned by the state-owned Oman Refinery and Petroleum Industries Company (ORPIC) in Al-Liwa, near by Sohar in the north of Oman. As all the other countries in the Gulf, the Sultanate is looking for building up added value locally in integrating more and more downstream transformations.
BP mulls over world-scale petrochemical complex
The UK-based international oil company BP is considering to build a greenfield acetic acid plant at Duqm in the south of Oman using newly developed SaaBre technology. For years BP is well known to have concentrated its capital expenditure and technical expertise on the upstream sector considering that downstream activities do not return same profitability. But low standing prices on gas and technology may change the name of the game.
PDO to decide on Rabab Harweel Integrated Project
The national oil company (NOC) Petroleum Development of Oman (PDO) made the final investment decision (FID) on the Rabab Harweel Integrated Project (RHIP) in the South of Oman. Following BP‘s decision to go ahead with the giant Khazzan and Makarem tight gas project in center of Oman, Sultanate Government is gearing up all projects related to gas production in order to support its program on downstream side requiring more power generation and petrochemical transformations.
