Page 12 - MEOG Week 06 2022

MEOG PROJECTS & COMPANIES MEOG

Abraj wins PDO frack work

OMAN STATE-OWNED Omani oil firm OQ’s Abraj Services drilling unit as part of broader divest-
Energy Services’ drilling unit was this week ment plans.
awarded a contract by Petroleum Development Sources said that plans were in their infancy
Oman (PDO) for work on low-pressure wells in with one source saying that OQ – formerly
the Sultanate. Oman Oil Co. (OOC) – may decide to carry out
A statement from PDO said that Abraj would only a partial divestment by floating the com-
“perform hydraulic fracturing and stimulation pany on the local stock exchange.
services on low pressure wells”, with an option to The partial or complete sale of Abraj has been
do the same on high pressure wells. mooted by Muscat since 2015 and has been
The award comes 10 months after majority repeatedly postponed pending an upturn in the
state-owned PDO signed $4bn worth of mainte- upstream oil industry. The firm was created in
nance contracts for work on its 900,000-square 2006 and owns 13 land rigs.
km Block 6 concession, which has a total produc- The likelihood of such a move appeared to
tion capacity of around 650,000 bpd and is esti- have been boosted by comments in November
mated to hold more than 75% of the Sultanate’s by OQ’s acting CEO. Speaking to Reuters, Hilal
remaining oil reserves. al-Kharusi said that the company is carrying out
Covering the design and execution of more a review of its subsidiaries ahead of choosing
than 200 projects, the deals were signed with which to list. “We are considering listing some of
local firms Arabian Industries Projects and Spe- our assets in the local market,” he said.
cial Technical Services (STS). The agreements “We are reviewing at the moment … some in
have a seven-year term with an option for a the downstream and some in the upstream, espe-
three-year extension. cially on the service part of it,” al-Kharusi added.
According to PDO, Arabian Industries will “Certainly by 2022, we will have a more concrete
carry out project delivery in northern Block view of the whole portfolio. Now which one to
6 and maintenance and integrity work in the go first? That would depend on how the market
south, while STS will be responsible for project reacts,” he said. Reports had previously suggested
delivery in the south and maintenance and integ- that the Omani government was considering an
rity in the north. initial public offering (IPO) of a 20-25% stake
Meanwhile, in July 2021, OQ was reported in OQ, but al-Khrusi said there were no current
to be considering the sale of its Abraj Energy plans to do so.™

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