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Oman offers three new oil and gas concessions

26 Mar 2023 By GULAM ALI KHAN

Muscat – Oman’s Ministry of Energy and Minerals on Sunday announced the offering of three new oil and gas concession areas for local and international oil companies. This offering is the first batch of the sultanate’s 2023 licensing bid round.

The ministry has offered Blocks 15, 36 and 54 in the sultanate, inviting bids from the companies during the period from March 26 to June 25, 2023.

Earlier this month the Ministry of Energy and Minerals announced that it was in preparation process to offer two new batches of onshore and offshore oil and gas concession areas during the first half of this year.

The ministry will offer the second batch of the concession areas, which will focus on selected offshore blocks, by the end of the second quarter of 2023.

Block 15 is located within Oman’s northern oil province some 250km west of Muscat and 25km south-west of provincial town of Ibri. It is located along the north-eastern edge of petroleum basin in what is to be a similar geological setting to Shams, Wadi Rafash, and Anadarko’s Hafar fields. Tight gas is the predominant play within Block 15, the ministry said.

Block 36 covers 18625 sqkm area is along the border with Saudi Arabia and Yemen and is at the south-eastern edge of the Eastern Rub al Khali basin, one of the most prolific oil and gas basins in the world. To the south of this block, in neighbouring Block 38, the Rub al Khali basin is terminated against the Ghudun high that runs from NE to SW and separates the Rub Al Khali from the Southern Oman Salt basin.

Moreover, Block 54 covers a 5627 sqkm area and is located in a lightly drilled area, the Eastern Flank province situated between the easternmost edge of known salt in the South Oman Salt Basin and the Mesozoic and Palaeozoic outcrops found along the Huqf Axis.

Last year, the Ministry of Energy and Minerals informed that Oman’s total estimated reserves of crude oil and condensates increased by four per cent to reach 4.876bn barrels at the end of 2021 in comparison with expected reserves recorded in the previous year. According to the ministry data, total reserves of natural gas in Oman were estimated at 23tn cubic feet at the end of 2021.

Oman’s average daily production of crude oil and condensates exceeded 1.06mn barrels per day (bpd) for the full year 2022, up by 9.6 per cent in comparison to average daily output of 971,200 bpd recorded in 2021.

The sultanate’s total oil output in 2022 increased by nearly 10 per cent to 388.4mn barrels compared to 354.5mn barrels in 2021, according to data released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information.

Total oil exports for the full year 2022 grew by 10.6 per cent to 319.5mn barrels in comparison with 288.9mn barrels in the previous year, the NCSI data showed.

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