Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) has exceeded its target for crude oil production in the first two months of 2015, a top official told Reuters.Â
Output in January and February was higher than 570,000 barrels per day (bpd), exceeding the planned average for the year as a whole, managing director Raoul Restucci said at a briefing on Tuesday night but did not reveal what the actual production was.Â
In January, Omani oil minister Mohammad bin Hamad al-Rumhy said the country’s crude oil production is expected to rise by about 20,000 bpd in 2015. Oman has been pumping around 950,000 bpd of crude, accoridng to Reuters.
In recent years, Oman has invested heavily in enhanced oil recovery to boost production from its aging fields. Accoridng to Restucci, some enhanced oil recovery projects will slow as they require higher prices, but the vast majority will continue as they are “very very profitable.” Â
November last year, PDO outlined plans to make significant investment into its gas exploration efforts. The national oil company (NOC) said it would be investing between $1.5bn and $2bn in 2015.
PDO is the biggest oil producer in Oman but is also producing crude oil at an average of 550,000 barrels per day.
It has recorded an average gas production of 1.25mn barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2013 and added 317mn barrels of oil reserves.
