Petroleum Development Oman Plans Huge Investment in Oil, Gas

Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) has plans to invest close to $26 billion in oil and gas exploration and production over the next five years, reports in local newspapers said.

Oman has stated that it will spend over $10 billion over the next 10 years.

The prodigious outlays by majority government-owned PDO, as well as a host of oil and gas companies including BP Oman, Occidental, and Oman Oil Company Exploration and Production (OOCEP), are in line with the government’s strategy to sustain oil and gas output over the long term, Oman Observer said in its new report.

A significant portion of the investment will be directed towards the development of potentially prolific tight or unconventional gas plays which experts believe hold the answer to meeting Oman’s long-term gas requirements.

Oil major BP and wholly government owned OOCEP are working in the appraisal of tight gas reservoirs in their Block 61 and Block 60 concessions respectively.

PDO says it is encouraged by its own fledgling efforts to harness the potential of tight gas plays in its expansive Block 6 concession, which currently accounts for the lion’s share of the country’s oil output and almost all of the gas production.