Observer Year-End Special (Part II)

A chronological listing of key milestones, events and developments of significance to Oman’s business and economic landscape during an eventful year roiled by the devastating effects of a global economic slowdown and made worse by the coronavirus pandemic

JULY

July 1: Majority state-owned Oman LNG achieves revenues of $3.485 billion in 2019 — a year characterised by a new production high, record cargo deliveries and the start of a landmark rejuvenation programme targeting the company’s Qalhat liquefaction complex.

July 1: The Board of Directors of Fisheries Development Oman (FDO), part of Oman Investment Authority (OIA), has approved the company’s five-year plan (2020-2025), the centerpiece of which is a strategy to invest several hundred million Omani riyals in strategic fisheries and aquaculture schemes.

July 4: For the third consecutive year, Oman maintained its dominant position as the world’s biggest exporter of gypsum — shipping an estimated 9.01 million tons of the commodity last year primarily to the Indian subcontinent.

July 5: The Omani government has signed an Exploration and Production Sharing Agreement (EPSA) with Tethys Oil Qatbeet Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Swedish energy firm Tethys Oil, for Block 58 onshore Oman.

July 8: Oman has deposited its instrument of ratification of the Multilateral Convention (MLI), thereby formally affirming its commitment to a global effort to combat tax avoidance by multinational corporations.

July 18: Oman’s Ministry of Energy and Minerals approves the Field Development Plan (FDP) for the Yumna Field in Block 50, an offshore concession encompassing the waters around Masirah Island off the Sultanate’s east coast. A Declaration of Commerciality has also been announced for the field, effectively marking the start of commercial production for the first time from the Block.

Jul 18: Oman has fully lived up to its commitments under the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), according to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

July 20: Oman Investment Authority restructures the boards of 15 companies in its portfolio as part of a comprehensive review of its assets, as it looks to boost efficiencies amid the global pandemic.

July 29: Omani Investment Authority (OIA) has revamped its ICT holding arm — Oman ICT Group — to currently comprise four entities: Oman Broadband Company, Oman Technology Fund (OTF), Space Communication Technologies Company, and Oman Tower Company.

AUGUST

August 18: His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik issues a record twenty-eight Royal Decrees in support of a dramatic reshuffle of the cabinet, revamp of government ministries and departments, and other measures aimed at improving governance and rationalizing public expenditure.

August 18: A new Royal Decree establishes the Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones (OPAZ).

August 24: Oman is the latest country in the Gulf region to become TIR operational, unlocking its regional and international trade potential.

SEPTEMBER

September 5: The Sultanate has been placed 84th among a total of 131 economies ranked in the latest edition of the Global Innovation Index (GII) — the world’s foremost indicator of the importance accorded by nations to innovation as a driver of economic development.

September 7: The Central Bank of Oman (CBO) has unveiled a slew of policy measures — the second since March this year — designed to strengthen the ability of banks and Finance & Leasing Companies (FLCs) to support the country’s economic revival.

September 8: Oman Aviation Group (OAG) has announced a strategic partnership with global logistics giant DHL to support the development of air logistics at Muscat Airport City.

September 16: The Government of Oman ratified its accession to the Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Good by Road (CMR) and the Additional Protocol on the Electronic Consignment Note (e-CMR) under the Royal Decree No. 114/2020.

September 17: EOG Resources Inc, one of the largest crude oil and natural gas exploration and production companies in the United States, has signed an Exploration and Production Sharing Agreement (EPSA) with the government of the Sultanate of Oman to explore for hydrocarbons in Block 36 in the southwest of the country.

September 20: The Central Bank of Oman (CBO) has directed commercial banks, as well as finance and leasing companies (FLCs), operating in the Sultanate to begin scrupulously implementing the provisions of the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on the Exchange of Financial Information — an international convention that seeks to, among other things, combat offshore tax evasion.

September 22: The Omani government has successfully completed the issuance of local sovereign sukuk worth RO 200 million as part of the government’s plan to finance the 2020 State Budget.

September 24: Oman’s revamped Minimum Wage policy, which does away with the tiered structure of base salaries linked to educational qualifications, has the potential to spur job growth targeted at Omanis, place a greater premium of experience and skills development, and incentivise businesses to invest in local talent.

September 25: Oman’s Minister of Energy and Minerals signs an new Exploration and Production Sharing Agreement (EPSA) with Maha Energy (Oman) Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sweden’s Maha Energy AB, covering the exploration and development of hydrocarbons in Block 70 in central Oman.

OCTOBER

October 6: Oman is removed from the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes.

October 12: BP, in partnership with OQ, Petronas and the Ministry of Energy & Minerals in Oman, announced production has begun from its Block 61 Phase 2 Ghazeer gas field, 33 months after the development was approved.

October 13: Oman’s decision to exempt a number of basic goods and services from the purview of Value Added Tax (VAT), slated to come into force with effect from April 2021, has been hailed as a reflection of the government’s commitment to minimising the financial impact of the new levy on the general population of the Sultanate.

October 20: Al Taher Group, a diversified business group in the Sultanate, signed on Tuesday a strategic agreement with the UAE based conglomerate, Al-Futtaim Group, to introduce globally renowned furniture brand IKEA, at Oman Avenues Mall, in Muscat.

October 21: The Capital Market Authority (CMA) has approved a special code for the governance of state-owned companies.

October 22: His Majesty Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik has approved a Medium-Term Fiscal Balance Plan (2020-2024).

October 27: Oman Electricity Transmission Company (OETC), member of Nama Group, signs contracts worth RO 183 million as part of the landmark ‘Rabt’ project, which seeks to connect the National Grid in the north with Petroleum Development Oman’s electricity transmission network along with the Tanweer network in Al Wusta Governorate and the local Duqm SEZ network.

NOVEMBER

November 1: A first-of-its-kind Unemployment Insurance Scheme is a launched on the Royal Directives of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik — an initiative that will help encourage Omanis to strongly consider risk-free employment in the private sector.

November 2: Oman’s government is weighing plans to tax the personal incomes of high net-worth individuals as part of a sweeping package of measures designed, on the one hand, to help shore up state revenues battered by low oil prices and the pandemic, and on the other, to plug a widening budget deficit.

November 3: Duqm Refinery and Petrochemicals Industries Company (DRPIC) has announced the suspension of the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) work for its proposed Duqm Petrochemical Project (DPP), as it seeks to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the DPP’s economics.

November 12: The high-powered National Committee on Anti-Money Laundering & Combating Financing of Terrorism (AML-CFT) formally approved measures to sustain its ongoing against fight money laundering and terror-financing activities.

November 12: The Omani government has opened Series 5 of the Omani Rial Sukuk Issuance Programme for public investment — a move that provides retail investors with an opportunity to purchase sukuk certificates at attractive terms.

November 16: A new month-long Made in Oman campaign launches in stores, supermarkets and malls across the Sultanate.

November 29: The Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones (OPAZ) represented by the Special Economic Zone at Duqm (SEZAD) has awarded the tender for the development, management and operation of a Multipurpose Fishing Port and the related projects at Duqm SEZ to a strategic alliance of Oman and international companies led by Fisheries Development Oman, a state-owned group supervised by Oman Investment Authority.

DECEMBER

December 5: Oman has broadly welcomes the decision by OPEC+ to keep production cuts substantially in place, save for a minimal output increase, as a positive step to help bolster international oil prices.

December 6: The Omani government has announced the formal establishment of Energy Development Oman SAOC (EDO) as an Omani joint stock company that will, among other things, acquire a shareholding in majority government-owned Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), presently the largest producer of crude oil and natural gas in the Sultanate.

December 12: The Minister of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion issued Ministerial Decision (209/2020) determining the list of activities which foreign investors are prohibited from engaging in, limiting them to Omani investors in order to protect national products and entrepreneurship projects.

December 20: Revised electricity and water tariffs slated to come into force across the Sultanate with effect from January 1, 2021 will result in a significant uptick in the monthly bills of consumers — part of a momentous effort by the Oman’s authorities to roll back longstanding subsidies on utilities and help rein in a widening government fiscal deficit.

December 21: The Special Economic Zone Authority of Duqm (SEZAD) signs an agreement with an alliance led by Fisheries Development Oman (FDO), an affiliate of Oman Investment Authority, for the development, management and operation of the multi-purpose fishing harbour in Duqm.

December 28: The Capital Market Authority (CMA) has added to its administration structure a new department dedicated to combating money laundering and terror financing — a move designed to create a safer investment climate for institutions operating in the capital market and insurance sectors of the Sultanate.

(Concluded)

CONRAD PRABHU

@conradprabhu