Speaking at the annual media briefing organised by the Ministry of Oil and Gas, H E Aufi said, “Our system is resilient enough to be able to produce at variable prices of oil. We will continue developing, exploring and sanctioning new projects even if oil prices drop below the current level.”
He said the sultanate’s oil production programme continues to remain sound and the country will maintain its production even if crude prices go further down. “We believe we can continue executing our entire program for this year even if prices drop from the current level. However, I don’t really see prices will drop further significantly.”
Last year, the Ministry of Oil and Gas awarded four new oil blocks by signing exploration and production sharing agreements with the companies.
H E Aufi said that four more oil blocks have been opened for tending in the last quarter of 2017 for 2018 bidding round and the ministry is currently in the process of evaluating the tenders submitted by local and international companies.
The sultanate’s oil and gas expenditure amounted to US$11.4bn in 2017, of which around 72 per cent was capital expenditure in upstream sector and 28 per cent was for operating expenses.
Source Link: www.muscatdaily.com