Oman

Increasing demand for power and water and an expanding role for private sector firms are the two most significant factors currently affecting Oman’s utilities sector. This is motivating the government to expand capacity, which in turn is bringing about a restructuring in the sector, creating new opportunities for private and international firms. Efforts are also under way to encourage energy...

Oman may have huge hydrocarbons wealth, but accessing oil and gas supplies has long proved a challenge. More positively, the difficulties associated with exploiting oil and gas reserves – which are dispersed in complex clusters – have made the nation a global leader in advanced hydrocarbons recovery techniques. For international oil companies with the capacity for enhanced oil recovery techniques...

With participants showing strong growth in a highly competitive market, the sultanate’s insurance sector is experiencing a period of both vertical and horizontal expansion. Stronger regulatory requirements on solvency and governance are also on the way, while a major new element, Islamic insurance – takaful – is also being added to the mix. While the market penetration rate remains low compared...

While international investor confidence has been affected by the global financial crisis, the sultanate has remained relatively stable, with sustained high oil prices resulting in increasing government spending and higher disposable incomes. Moreover, these are exciting times for Oman’s capital markets, as a number of recent initiatives aimed at broadening activity are coming into play. The...

Backed up by strong macroeconomic fundamentals and the sultanate’s reputation for stability and sound financial management, Oman’s banking sector has been remarkably resilient in recent years. The sector has registered good growth in the face of market volatility linked to the Arab Spring and the eurozone crisis. Going forward, banks are now entering a period of substantial change. In 2013,...

While hydrocarbons accounted for 38.8% of the sultanate’s GDP in 2011, non-oil activities have grown by 55% from 2007 to 2011, from OR9.2bn ($24bn) to OR14.3bn ($37.7bn). Of these, the services sector has consistently been the largest category recently, hovering between a 30% and 40% share of overall GDP, with industry making up some 15-20%. However, despite the growth of non-oil activity, 2012...