Tell me about Petroleum Development Oman (PDO)’s strategy for gas production, moving forward.
Gas has played, and continues to play, a key role in hydrocarbon exploration and production for PDO. We have been producing gas for just over 40 years, we just celebrated our fortieth . We have been supplying markets in Asia with uninterrupted, continuous LNG, and we have been powering the industrial sector in the country for 40 years now, so it is a mainstream part of our business that we will continue to grow and develop this important part of the business.
In terms of the outlook for our gas strategy, as the world looks to increase its share of renewables into the energy mix, you will find that gas is a complementary fuel with the intermittent nature of renewables, and we will certainly look to play our part in the solution to a transition towards a lower carbon footprint. PDO, as well as Oman, will continue to play its part there as well.
What are the challenges and opportunities for PDO when it comes to increasing gas production?
The major opportunity moving forward is learning how we can unlock the opportunity set that comes along with digitalisation, and what Industry 4.0 can mean in terms of opportunities for the sector and Oil & Gas 4.0.
Gas 4.0 is not here today, but we are piloting at scale, and we see the outlines of the opportunity set that digitalisation does offer PDO, and the wider industry. Cost-efficiency is a challenge in today’s market. If you look at gas, you should never assume that prices will remain constant. Because of that, cost-efficiency and cost-effectiveness are important, and digitalisation should be considered in terms of how it can reduce internal inefficiencies; how does that reduce waste, and how tools like artifical intelligence can maximise the extraction of hydrocarbons. These are some of the opportunities, and also come along with their own set of challenges.
What are the steps that PDO has taken to increase its gas production?
From a gas development perspective, the strategy for PDO at the national level has been continued investment in the oil and gas sector, so that has not changed, and certainly will not change.
We have just come from a wave of large, major gas projects that we have completed, and we are reaping the dividends of those large-scale investments, and we have another round of large-scale investments going forward. The Rabab Harweel Integrated Project is a great example of one of our recent projects.
In the pipeline, we have the sour complex, another integrated project, coming on stream, and we continue to invest at a pace that is equivalent to what we have been doing for the past year.
