US oil company PetroTel Inc has been awarded a three-year exploration and production concession by Oman for Block 17 of the Musandam area of the country.
The Oman Daily Observer reported that the Texas-based firm signed the agreement with Oman’s oil and gas ministry at a brief ceremony held yesterday. A subsidiary, PetroTel Oman LLC, will be operating the 2,378 sq km block.
“There are some open blocks that we are currently marketing. So far, we have been successful in attracting new companies to Oman. We hope to award these new blocks [in due course],” Nasser bin Khamis al Jashmi, oil and gas under-secretary for Oman is reported as saying.
“We hope this block has both oil and gas potential. There has been some exploration done [in this area] in the past, but [its potential] hasn’t yet been commercialised.” He added.
The concession covers both onshore and offshore fields and is the fourth block to have been awarded by the Sultanate this year.