- Apr 17, 2023, 5:00 PM CDT
With only around five billion barrels of estimated proved oil reserves, barely the 22nd largest in the world, Oman has long been looking to create added value from these resources by using them as a feedstock to build out its own world-class petrochemicals sector. However, the problem for Oman in choosing this approach is that building up a major petrochemicals presence requires a lot of upfront spending before any significant revenues start to be generated.
China has another use for Oman, which is to enable its core Middle Eastern partner, Iran, to finally build out its liquefied natural gas business. The plan is for Iran to utilise at least 25 percent of Oman’s total 1.5 million tons per year LNG production capacity at the Qalhat plant.