PDO to invest $20b in five years

In its latest sustainability report, Petroleum Development Oman confirmed that this investment is to sustain its long-term hydrocarbon output.

MUSCAT: Oman’s majority stateowned Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) plans to invest more than $20 billion over a five-year period to sustain its long-term hydrocarbon output. PDO, in its sustainability report released on Tuesday, confirmed the establishment of a new total oil, gas, and condensate production record of 1.293 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2016.

This total included an average daily oil production of 600,197 barrels per day, the highest since 2005. The year saw strong, con- sistent production across oil and gas fields as well as good new oil performance and recovery of gas production from previously closed-in wells.

“Our Well Engineering Directorate reached new levels of activity, drilling 644 wells — a 12 per cent rise against 2015 — and making 19,600 well interventions — a 49 per cent increase over 2015,” the sustainability report noted.

In a tough economic environment, and to reduce reliance on government funding, the company turned to the international capital market to successfully raise $4 billion in 2016 from a group of major financial institutions, the report said. “The loan will support the company’s activities, including the construction of major new oil and gas facilities, providing long-term economic benefits for the Sultanate. The move will also enable the government to redeploy resources to other areas of the economy,” the report added.

The low oil price economic environment has called for a paradigm shift in mindset from established ways of working to significantly improve capital efficiency and deliver competitive projects. All of PDO’s corporate project delivery milestones were achieved as per or ahead of plan and delivered within the year.