Oman’s Ministry of Energy and Minerals on 13 February announced the signing of an agreement to finance a $700mn 1.7GW interconnection project with the Gulf Interconnection Authority and the Qatar Fund for Development. The deal is in reference to long held plans to upgrade its 220kV to a 400kV connection to Abu Dhabi (MEES, 10 November 2023).
According to the ministry’s announcement, construction will begin this year with operations starting in 2027. Oman has managed to stay on top of rising power demand in recent years, and is pursuing a further 2.4GW of gas-powered capacity by 2029 to shore up its baseload generation (MEES, 6 December 2024). Oman is unlikely to look at the GCC interconnection as an essential source of electricity, but perhaps as an opportunity to expand power trading. (CONTINUED - 126 WORDS)