Meethaq, a sharia compliant banking firm, and Hydrocarbon Finder (HCF) have signed an Islamic project financing facility for the development of oil and gas fields in Oman’s Block 7, operated by HCF.
HCF took over Block 7 in April 2016 under an exploration and production sharing agreement signed with the Omani government. Since then, HCF has undertaken a low cost, high yield development programme to revive production from the discovered fields in the block and has more than doubled production within a span of 18 months. Block 7 is located on the south Rub Al Khali (Empty Quarter) basin and has been producing hydrocarbons for the last three decades.
HCF expects to supplement reasonable volumes of incremental oil and gas reserves in due course. HCF plans to triple production levels from Block 7 in the short-term. Following the establishment of the financing facility with Meethaq, HCF intends to invest up to $160mn towards development activities, in a phased manner.
The project at Block 7 is also expected to boost Omanisation opportunities and locally based SMEs.
