Oman Oil production touches 30m barrels in October

16/11/2017 06:20 AST

The Sultanate’s crude oil production, including condensates, rose by 2.4 per cent to touch 29.98 million barrels in October 2017. This is against an output of 29.27 million barrels in the previous month.

The daily average crude oil production stood at 967,050 barrels in October, according to the latest statistics released by the Ministry of Oil and Gas.

Of the total oil production, Oman exported 25.39 million barrels in October, against 22.71 million barrels in the previous month, showing a robust growth of 8.16 per cent.

China retained its position as the leading destination for the Sultanate’s crude oil exports in October, with the country constituting 53.65 per cent of the total exports. This was followed by India (30.31 per cent), Taiwan (8.08 per cent), Malaysia (2.07 per cent) and Japan (1.97 per cent).

Of late, Chinese refineries prefer Oman Crude, which they procure mostly from the Dubai Mercantile Exchange — the region’s only crude oil trading centre.

Oman produced 367.56 million barrels of oil and exported 321.94 million barrels in 2016. Oman’s oil production averaged one million barrels per day (bpd) for the first time in history in 2016.

Also, the average price of Oman Crude surged ahead by 32.2 per cent to $50.6 per barrel in the January-September period, from $38.3 per barrel in the same period last year.

Oman decided to cut its daily crude oil production by 45,000 barrels (4.5 per cent) since January this year, in line with an agreement reached between Opec (Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) and non-Opec members to eliminate a glut in the oil market.

Dr Mohammed bin Hamad Al Rumhy, Minister of Oil and Gas, said on Tuesday that the country would continue its production cut until the end of 2018, if Opec and non-Opec members agree for the same.

Opec and non-Opec members have decided to cut crude oil production by 1.8 million barrels per day since January 2017. The initial decision was implemented in January 2017 for six months and was extended up to March 2018.

With Sohar refinery’s expanded capacity expected to start operations soon, there will be a marked decline in the exports of Oman Crude. The Sohar refinery is in the final stages of commissioning its expansion project, which will raise crude processing capacity by 82,000 bpd to 198,000 bpd.

Times of Oman