Oman crude exports to China rise as shipments to Japan, India slump

MUSCAT: Japan and India, once leading markets for Oman crude, saw their respective shares dramatically decline during the first eight months of this year. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), Japanese imports of crude from the Sultanate plummeted 90.8 per cent to around 1.6 million barrels as of August 31, 2020, down from 17.529 million barrels for the corresponding period of 2019. India too saw its share plunge 49.7 per cent to 6.675 million barrels this year, down from 13.270 million barrels last year. But China, long the dominant market for Omani crude, bolstered its share by 18.2 per cent to 171.07 million barrels during the January–August 2020 period, up from 144.7 million barrels last year. Compared with total Omani crude exports aggregating 193.639 million barrels over this period, China’s share accounted for an unassailable 88.4 per cent of this figure. Despite a cut in production in keeping with its commitment to the Opec+ grouping of oil producers to help shore up sagging international crude prices, Oman’s output averaged 957K barrels per day (bpd) during the eight months of this year, slightly lower than the corresponding average of 970K bpd last year. While black oil output fell 7.5 per cent to 190.9 million barrels during this period, from 206.4 million barrels last year, condensate production surged 45 per cent to 42.6 million barrels this year, up from 29.4 million barrels last year. The average price of crude was lower by 26.3 per cent at $47.7/b this year, down from $64.7/b during the corresponding period of 2019. Natural gas production, on the other hand, remained relatively stable at 30.3 billion cubic metres (local output and Dolphin imports) this year, versus 30.7 bcm during the first eight months of 2019, according to the NCSI report. While 60 per cent of this output was consumed by heavy industries, including Oman LNG for production of liquefied natural gas (LNG), the power generation sector accounted for a roughly 18 per cent share. About 23 per cent was used by oilfields primarily to support Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) operations, while the remainder was channelled towards industries cities administered by Madayan.