Oman’s oil reserves at 4.84bn barrels, gas at 23.8 TCF

Reserves of crude oil and condensates in the Sultanate totaled 4842.71 million barrels as of 2019-end, up by 1.1 per cent in comparison with 2018, the Ministry of Oil and Gas announced in its 2019 Annual Report.  Majority state-owned Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) accounts for about 67 per cent of total reserves, it said. Total reserves of natural gas in the Sultanate at the end of 2019 was estimated to be 23.8 trillion cubic feet (TCF), 53.7 per cent of which is the estimated reserve of PDO, followed by BP (Khazzan and Ghazeer) with 41 per cent, and 5.3 per cent of other companies. The average daily production of oil during 2019 amounted to 971,000 barrels per day against 978,000 barrels per day in 2018, a reduction 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. The total exports of oil and condensates during 2019 amounted to 310 million barrels. China topped the list of the countries importing crude oil from Oman, with 78 per cent, followed by Japan with 8 per cent. The rest of the countries represented 14 per cent of the total exports of crude oil and condensates in 2019. In 2019, the average price of Omani crude oil reached $63.58 per barrel, decreasing by 9.2 per cent against 2018. Omani crude oil prices averaged at a minimum of $57.33 per barrel in February and a maximum of $71.15 per barrel in June. Total petroleum products output of OQ reached about 112 million barrels. The contribution of Mina Al Fahal Refinery was 35 million barrels, and Sohar Refinery contribution was 77 million barrels. The production of gas oil (diesel) was about 22 per cent of the total production of the two refineries of OQ. The total sales of petroleum products during 2019 is estimated to be 27 million barrels, of which 2 million barrels were sold by Mina Al Fahal Refinery, and 25 million barrels were sold by Sohar Refinery. OQ’s sales of naphtha represents 41 per cent of the total domestic sales of petroleum products in 2019. According to the Ministry’s report, the oil and gas companies operating in the concession areas in 2019 drilled, tested and evaluated 25 exploration and appraisal gas wells, 8 of which were drilled previously, but tested and evaluated in 2019.  The analysis and productivity tests in some of the wells showed positive results, adding new gas reserves, it said. Average production of natural gas during 2019 amounted to 122.2 million cubic metres per day, 19 per cent of which was associated gas at an average of 22.8 million cubic metres per day. Non-associated gas constituted 81 per cent of the total production at an average of 99.4 million cubic metres per day. In addition, natural gas was imported through Dolphin Energy Company at an average of 5.3 million cubic metres per day. The total consumption of natural gas during 2019 reached 46,554 million cubic metres. Oman LNG and Qalhat LNG projects ranked highest in terms of natural gas consumption, accounting for about 16,129 million cubic metres, or 35 per cent of the total consumption in 2019. This was followed by local industrial projects, with 27 per cent consumption, 22 per cent for field operations and other uses, and 16 per cent for power and desalination plants. Consumption at industrial areas constituted only 1 per cent of the total consumption of natural gas. Total exports of LNG during 2019 amounted to 10.6 million metric tonnes in 165 shipments. The export of gas condensates were 0.282 million metric tonnes in 43 shipments. At the end of 2019, Oman LNG represented 71 per cent of the total natural gas exports, while Qalhat LNG accounted for about 29 per cent of the total, the report added.