Muscat faces up to oil twilight
The Omani government’s focus is reluctantly shifting to managing output decline
State-controlled Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), producer of some two-thirds of Oman’s oil, announced In late May the near-completion of its flagship Yibal Khuff enhanced oil recovery (EOR) project. The tone was celebratory but could equally have been valedictory. The international energy landscape and the government’s fiscal position have shifted dramatically in the seven years since the scheme’s launch. It is hard to envisage either the parastatal or its foreign counterparts in the country’s upstream ever again embarking on such a costly, emissions-heavy venture for such a small output payoff. The sultanate’s energy minister, Mohammed al-Rumhy, openly conceded in an interview last month
Also in this section
26 April 2024
While the US has been breaking records for its premium grade crude, there are doubts over whether you can have too much of a good thing
26 April 2024
Slowing demand growth and capacity expansions will squeeze refiners in coming years
25 April 2024
Some companies with assets in Israel have turned towards Egypt as tensions escalate, but others are holding firm despite rising tensions
24 April 2024
But even planned exploration activity is unlikely to reverse declining output from mature fields