Oman

In April 2018 the foundation was laid for one of the sultanate’s largest engineering ventures – the $7bn integrated refinery at Duqm. Indeed, according to industry media, its construction will account for some 8% of Oman’s entire GDP in the years preceding its completion in 2022. The refinery will form a key part of the country’s overall oil...

The oil and gas sector is responsible for much of Oman’s economic growth and government revenue, thus changes in the industry tend to reflect greatly on the sultanate’s overall development. Although recent years have seen progress towards diversification goals, hydrocarbons activity still attracts a large share of domestic and foreign...

The recent period of low global oil and gas prices has led to an increased incentivisation to streamline and rationalise the hydrocarbons sector’s administrative and corporate structures. Oman is a key player in this attempt to streamline, and recently there has been significant merging and rebranding of organisations that have traditionally...

Oman has made some major moves to diversify its energy mix, as indicated by the commissioning of new renewable energy (RE) projects. The sultanate has set a precedent by bringing RE into the oil and gas upstream via new innovative schemes.

The period of easily raising funds from abroad seems to be coming to an end for emerging markets around the world. In the new environment of higher interest rates in the US and increased competition for capital flows, portfolio managers are becoming more selective with where they place their money.

Since the start of the economic slowdown in 2015, there has been much talk about consolidation in Oman’s banking sector, and in 2018 major Omani banks announced plans for potential mergers. Oman Arab Bank, the country’s only unlisted bank, and Alizz Islamic Bank signed a memorandum of understanding in October 2018 to consolidate the two...