Oil reserves at 4,791m barrels by end of 2018
He said that the overall expenditure on oil and gas exploration, production and development stood at approximately $11.75 billion against $11.4 billion in 2017, distributed over some 69 per cent as capital expenses, including drilling, facilities etc, and some 31 per cent as operational costs.
Al Aufi further said that expenditure on the oil sector consisted of approximately $8.4 billion, whereas total expenditure on the gas sector reached approximately $3.3 billion.
He added that strategic projects and economic diversification plans in Oman are important and their aim is to make a significant contribution to sustainable development and through which the Ministry of Oil and Gas seeks to attract promising investment opportunities, expand investments and work with partners to capitalise on technical expertise to help boost local production and generate jobs, which have so far reached some 6,000.
In terms of marketing open concession blocks, Al Aufi added that six oil concession blocks were proposed in the first quarter of the present year. The ministry is currently endeavouring to notify local and international companies of the 2019 bidding and marketing round for oil concession blocks in hopes that its efforts will culminate in success following the positive results of the last two rounds where seven out of eight concession blocks were awarded.
In the context of the ministry’s in-country value (ICV) efforts and in collaboration with the operating companies of the oil and gas sector, the under-secretary said the ICV Programme has played a significant and active role in encouraging local companies to be involved in the manufacturing and different services pertaining to the oil and gas sector, and boosting the expenditure of companies on purchases and contracts with locally registered suppliers. The ICV statement showed steady improvement that amounted, in late 2018, to 40 per cent of the value of expenditure since first being applied, at a 2 per cent annual increase.
In their endeavour to Omanise products and services, operating companies managed to Omanise 26 out of 53 local investment opportunities identified in the Roadmap Strategy Study, including the manufacturing of large-diameter carbon steel pipes, tube sleeving, drill bits, and polymers used in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and in assembling and repairing electrical submersible pumps.
Overall investment in these opportunities amounted to approximately $160 million, and around 840 jobs were created.
More than 30 investment opportunities were Omanised by the operators outside the Roadmap Strategy Study too, including manufacturing drilling, manufacturing salt, grinding and lifting equipment during well repair and assembling and repairing progressive cavity pumps as well as repairing some of the equipment of lifting machinery.