Occidental Petroleum Corporation (Oxy) is expected to continue funding growth opportunities in both Oman and Qatar, and to complete the Al Hosn gas project in Abu Dhabi.
“The majority of our regional capital is deployed in our focus areas of Qatar, Oman and the UAE,” Oxy said in its annual report.
In 2013, as much as 34% of Oxy’s worldwide production – 258,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOEPD) – came from its operations in the Middle East. In October 2013, Oxy’s board of directors authorised the pursuit of the sale of a minority interest in its Middle East and North Africa operations.
The company said that its share of production from Oman was approximately 74,000 BOE per day in 2013.
“At the Mukhaizna field, where we are implementing one of the world’s largest steam flood projects, gross production has grown to 123,000 BOE per day – more than 15 times higher than the production rate in September 2005, when Occidental assumed operations. Our exploration programme in northern Oman is one of the most successful in Occidental’s history, with a discovery rate of more than 60%,” the company said in its report.
A 30-year production-sharing contract for the Mukhaizna field (Block 53) was signed with Oman in 2005. By the end of 2013, Occidental had drilled more than 2,100 new wells and continued the implementation of a major steam flood project.
Oxy has operated in Oman since 1979 and is today the largest independent oil producer in the sultanate, with major operations in northern Oman and at the Mukhaizna field in the south.
