[Oman-L] Oman to increase gas production by 11% in 2008

[Joachim Duester]

Oman aims to increase gas production by 11pc in 2008  

Reuters - 15 April, 2008

Oman aims to boost gas output by 11 percent in 2008
the country looks to meet rapidly rising demand for
the fuel, a senior energy official said yesterday.

Oman is targeting gas output of 70 million cubic
metres per day this year, up from 63 million last
year, Sayed al-Siyabi, director general of Oman’s
ministry of oil and gas said.

The Gulf Arab state, like its neighbours, has seen gas
demand surge as an economic boom feeds both power
consumption and industrial growth. The sultanate is
struggling to meet both domestic demand and its gas
export commitments.

The commissioning of a gas treatment plant at Kauther
at central Oman last year had helped Petroleum
Development Oman (PDO) to boost gas output, Siyabi
told reporters on the sidelines of an investment
conference.

“PDO is investing over $ 1bn in various projects to
enhance output this year and in the years to come,” he
said. Majority state-owned PDO is the single largest
oil and natural gas producer in the Sultanate.

BP and BG Group would also be investing close to $ 1bn
in the next three to five years to develop gas fields,
Siyabi said. BP last year won a concession to develop
Oman’s tight gas, which are reserves in complex
formations that are difficult to exploit.

BG Group was developing a potentially gas-rich block
in the Wusta region. Oman’s oil and gas minister
Mohammad al-Rumhy last month said that Dolphin Energy
would start supplying 200 million cubic feet of gas a
day to Oman through a pipeline from Qatar via the
United Arab Emirates as early as May this year.

The sultanate is targeting oil output of 790,000
barrels per day this year, versus output of 710,000
bpd last year.