Oman oil output leaped 16,000 b/d in September to 990,000 b/d, as Muscat exceeded expectations of how quickly it can ramp up output following the easing of Opec+ production cuts in June (MEES, 29 June). While still a long way off the record 1.015mn b/d posted in November 2016, just two months before the Opec+ agreement went into effect, it’s a considerable increase on the 971,000 b/d it has averaged since then.
Oil Minister Muhammad al-Rumhy told MEES in September that “we can produce [at pre-agreement levels], given a couple of months’ preparation. Our fields are a bit complicated, we need to re-enter some wells and so on, so it needs time. But if an agreement is reached telling everybody: ‘go back to producing at your October [2016] level because we think this number is now what the world needs in order to maintain this kind of price range’ then yes Oman can go back to where we were at 1.015mn b/d” (MEES, 7 September). Oman now looks on track to do just that. (CONTINUED - 672 WORDS)
