Muscat outsources oil sector expansion

Bid round and first-ever private refinery shows the government is looking to external investment

Oman is delegating the task of eking-out additional income from its oil sector to foreign and private investors as it focuses on sustaining output from existing fields, tying-up downstream loose ends, securing gas supplies and—increasingly—adapting to a decarbonised future. In mid-July, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR) announced the Mid-East Gulf’s first bid round since last year’s oil price crash, just weeks after a Chinese investor was revealed to have formally committed to a long-mooted second greenfield refinery at the nascent Duqm economic hub on Oman’s east-central coast. Licensing round The three-block auction follows a familiar pattern—covering lightly explored acr