Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) is expected to ramp up its oil output capacity by more than 10 percent to 670,000 barrels per day in five years. Petroleum Development Oman is the leading oil exploration and production company in the Sultanate of Oman.
The boost in capacity comes as the company is doubling its efforts in exploration activity, a source told S&P Global. The Oman government holds 60 percent stake in PDO, while Royal Dutch Shell has a 34 percent stake in the company.
Its exploration activity is expected to increase particularly in central Oman. The Oman company will be using enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques to boost its oil production output, technical director Sami Baqi told S&P Global.
“If you look at the projected forecast, given the richness of our portfolio we have today, we are confident that we can grow to above 670,000 b/d over the next five years,” he said.
Last year, Petroleum Development Oman’s oil output reached 610,710 barrels per day, observed to be the highest level since 2005.
Oil and gas supermajors Shell and Total are developing their own downstream gas projects in the Sultanate. The projects’ total investment is estimated to more than $20 billion.
That said, British multinational oil and gas firm BP is developing the massive Khazzan gas field in the sultanate. The Khazzan project is expected to increase production capacity from the current 1 billion cubic feet per day to 1.5 billion cubic feet per day by 2021.
Yousuf Al Ojaili, President of BP Oman, told reporters, “Following the successful startup of Khazzan, we are pleased to announce the sanction of Ghazeer, BP’s first project FID of 2018. Through the transfer of industry-leading skills and technology from BP’s global portfolio, we look forward to further developing this gas field that is expected to support Oman’s energy needs for many decades to come.”