MUSCAT: Oman’s government sees privatisation as a way to share the wealth with the public and therefore will move ahead with its plans in due course, said a senior official at the Ministry of Oil and Gas.
Salim bin Nasser Al Aufi, undersecretary at the ministry, was speaking at a roundtable meeting held at the Occidental office on Monday to discuss the main challenges facing local service companies in the oil and gas sector.
The event, organised by the ministry, Oman Society for Petroleum Services (Opal) and the Oil & Gas Year, was attended by senior officials from Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), Oxy, BP, Daleel Petroleum, Mitsui, Halliburton as well as renowned local companies.
Asked whether Oman plans to focus more on privatisation of state-owned companies in the face of lower oil prices, Al Aufi said that the government looks at it as more of a strategy to share the generated wealth with as many people as possible and the companies can implement their plans in this regard when they achieve sustained profitability.
He referred to the earlier announcement that Oman’s government may sell off part of Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (Orpic) and said that the plan has not been scrapped but will be implemented only after the company becomes profitable.
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