Oman state fund buys 41 pct stake of ONIC

OSP for Oman crude in April rises to $111.21

DUBAI, Feb 28, (RTRS): An Omani sovereign wealth fund has bought a 41.1 percent stake in Oman National Investment Corp Holding (ONIC) from a unit of the Dubai ruler’s personal investment firm, the state funds said in a joint statement on Thursday.

The holding represents 71.3 million shares in ONIC, the statement said. At the last market price of the shares, the stake was worth 22.1 million Omani rials ($57.6 million).

The stake was sold by Dubai Insurance Group (DIG), which is owned by Dubai Group, part of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum’s Dubai Holding conglomerate. Dubai Group is restructuring about $10 billion of debt, having been hit hard by the global financial crisis, and has been selling assets to reduce its debt.

“This is a strategic decision for DIG and is part of our stated plan to sell down assets in order to support our broader ongoing restructuring process,” said Fadel Al Ali, acting chief executive of Dubai Group.

In September, Dubai Group sold its Turkish insurance arm to a company owned by former AIG chief executive Maurice Greenberg and a unit of Dubai lender Mashreq Bank.

Dubai Group also owns a 14.7 percent stake in Oman’s top lender, Bank Muscat.

ONIC is a holding company active in the insurance business and offers other services such as asset management and leasing. Japan’s Oryx Corp has a 14.9 percent stake, making it the second largest shareholder, according to Reuters data.

Also: SINGAPORE: The official selling price (OSP) for Oman crude in April will rise to $111.21 a barrel, up $3.43 from the previous month, Reuters calculations based on data from the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) showed on Thursday.

The April Oman OSP is the average of the daily Oman settlements at 0830 GMT in February for the front-month contract . The Oman OSP for March was $107.78 a barrel.

So the April Dubai crude OSP, set at a 10-cent premium to DME Oman, will be $111.31 a barrel.

MUSCAT: Oman’s Sohar refinery is shutting down on Thursday for 46 days of maintenance, a statement from the state- run refinery said.

“The Sohar refinery will be shut down for scheduled maintenance for 46 days,” the statement said.

The refinery is expected to restart around April 15.

Reuters reported in December that the 116,000-barrel per day (bpd) refinery would be shut in March and for most of April.

Oman produces around 950,000 bpd of crude oil.