China lifted 78.4pc of total Omani crude exports in 2019

China, long the principal market for Omani crude exports, saw its share dip slightly to 78.4 per cent of total exports in 2019, down from 83 per cent a year earlier, according to Oman’s Ministry of Oil and Gas. Of an estimated 310 million barrels shipped to a string of markets around the world last year, China lifted 243 million barrels.  This compares with 240 million barrels of total exports of 289 million barrels of Omani crude in 2018. China has seen its share of Oman crude exports nearly double over the past decade. It was roughly 40 per cent in 2010. Japan was the second most important destination for Omani crude exports last year, lifting 23 million barrels or 7.5 per cent of the total.  Its share about a decade ago was about 15 per cent. In third place was India with a 4.8 per cent share, lifting around 15 million barrels of Omani crude last year. This compares with a share averaging about 14 per cent in 2010. Myanmar has been a rising market for Omani crude in recent years, accounting or 3.5 per cent of the total exports (11 million barrels) in 2019. A further four million barrels (1.4 per cent) were shipped to Malaysia, while Tanzania with two million barrels (0.5 per cent) and Thailand with 0.5 million barrels (0.2 per cent) received some volumes as well. Oman’s output of crude oil and condensate totaled around 354 million barrels in 2019, down from 357 million a year earlier.  This represents an average daily production of 971,000 barrels in 2019, down from 978,000 bpd in 2018, a slight dip of 0.7 per cent. “The Sultanate maintained its level of oil production in compliance with the agreement to curb output among the OPEC and non-OPEC producers in order to stabilise the international oil supply and demand,” said the Ministry in its report.