The Sultanate of Oman has gone on to raise its natural gas supplies to industrial estates as well as projects to more than 29 billion cubic metres from the start of 2023 to the end of November.
It is well to be noted that the industrial estates comprised of 240 million cubic metres of domestic natural gas consumption, which is a surge of 6.2% as compared to the same period in 2022. The share of industrial projects when it comes to natural gas stood at 28.8 billion cubic metres, which happens to be a rise of 1.3% as compared to last year. The usage of natural gas in terms of oil fields surged to 12.3 billion cubic metres, a growth of 11.4%, and across power generation stations to 7.9 billion cubic metres, a rise of 9.6% over the last year.
Production as well as imports of natural gas across the Sultanate of Oman saw a surge of 4.9% to 49.4 billion cubic metres at the end of November 2023, vis-Ã -vis 47.1 billion cubic metres at the end of November 2022. This goes on to include 10.1 billion cubic metres when it comes to associated gas production as well as 39.2 billion cubic metres from non-associated gas production as well as imports.
It is worth noting that the increase in natural gas supplies across the industrial sector coincides with the expansion of the industry’s requirements along with the execution of new projects within the sector, especially in promising industrial regions like the Duqm Special Economic Zone, which happen to be witnessing a surge in the number of existing as well as planned projects. Notably, Duqm also hosts one of the most significant petrochemical industry projects called the OQ-8 refinery, which recently went on to start its trial operation by exporting high-quality diesel shipments. It is anticipated that the project will officially open soon.
Within the priorities when it comes to supporting the local industry, the gas transportation network across the Sultanate of Oman has gone on to significantly expand in the past years by way of new lines, the most significant of which happens to be the gas supply project right from Saih Nahidah to the Duqm Special Economic Zone. Apparently, this RO 98 million project goes on to contribute to meeting the present and future gas supply needs in the case of projects that are within the region.