Oman’s government will move ahead with plans to privatise parts of its oil and gas sector as it sees it as “a way to share the wealth with the public”, accoridng to a senior official at the Ministry of Oil and Gas.
The comments came from Salim bin Nasser Al Aufi, undersecretary at the ministry, who spoke at a roundtable meeting at the Occidental office on Monday, Times of Oman reproted.
Al Aufi said that the plan to sell off parts of Orpic (Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company) has not been scrapped but will be implemented only after the company becomes profitable, according to the local paper.
“Orpic needs to have a few years of sustained profitability before they start privatising part of it. The plan is still there. We have not moved away from it.”
On the question of privatisation of state-owned companies in the lower oil price environment, Al Aufi said the government looks at it as a strategy to share the generated wealth from oil with as many people as possible.
He added that sustained profitability needed to be achieved first, before companies move ahead with privatisation plans.
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