PDO begins transition from hydrocarbons to energy

TRANSFORMATION: The strategy envisions PDO’S diversification into renewable energy, energy management, oil and gas consultancy

Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), the nation’s biggest producer of oil and gas, says it has made a significant initial headway in its ambition to gradually evolve into a fully-fledged energy development company encompassing, among other activities, renewable energy development and produced water management.

According to Managing Director Raoul Restucci, (pictured) the majority government-owned company has embarked on a number of initiatives that champion energy efficiency, use of renewables and low-carbon emission technologies, and environmental sustainability.

“We are doing a lot of work towards becoming more and more energy efficient in every single operation,” said Restucci. “We are looking at greenhouse gases, how we can recover more, optimise the usage of power, and so on. “We just signed the North–south interconnect project, where we start combining the North power delivery and the South power delivery with the backbone in PDO, and how we can reduce spinning reserves, how we can optimise and go for more efficient combined cycle power plants.”

A year ago, the Sultanate’s national oil company unveiled its aspirations to reposition itself from an essentially fossil fuels based producer to a “fully fledged energy company”. The strategy envisions PDO’S diversification into, among other areas, solar basedrenewable energy development, energy management, oil and gas consultancy services, and water management.

Speaking to the Observer, Restucci said the blueprint for PDO’S transition into an ‘energy development company’ has been endorsed by its Board of Directors. “There is full support. There is commitment from the Board in terms of moving outside our own boundary conditions while shifting increasingly towards sustainable propositions. In the short-term, it will be mainly associated with job creation and in the longer-term it will be competitively the one solution to go for.”

High on PDO’S agenda is renewable energy development. Bids for the company’s maiden utility-scale solar PV project — a 100-MW installation planned at Amin in the southern