The Middle East Energy

Three major marketing companies take lubricant and fuel products from the Oman Refineries and Petrochemicals Company and distribute them to retail, commercial and aviation customers across the sultanate. The market they share is a fiercely competitive one, but the most recent figures reveal a healthy sector with capacity for growth.

One of the most pressing challenges thrown up by Oman’s rapid development since the 1970s is how to best utilise its energy resources. As with much of the region, in Oman this question is raised most frequently in relation to natural gas – the once-neglected by-product of the oil extraction process that is increasingly in demand as an energy...

The global insolation map has three notable patches: one in western Australia, another in south-west US and the last stretching across North Africa all the way to Saudi Arabia. It is in these regions where the most sun hits the ground, creating the greatest potential for solar energy. The large swatch in the MENA region is of particular interest these days. It runs...

With 222,000 barrels per day (bpd) of refining capacity, Oman may be struggling to meet domestic demand now, but an expansion of one of the nation’s two refining facilities and the development of a new refinery operation is set to more than double the sultanate’s output of refined products and open the door to a new export business.