Oman’s leading oil and gas exploration & production company, Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) has signed $4 billion worth of major service contracts, covering project delivery and maintenance and integrity work in the North and South of its concession area.
The deals with two leading Omani service providers Arabian Industries Projects (AIP) and Special Technical Services (STS) cover the design and execution of over 200 on-plot projects and are for seven years with a three-year extension option.
Under the terms of the deals, AIP will be in charge of project delivery in Block 6’s north and maintenance and integrity function in the south, while STS will be in charge of project delivery in the south and maintenance and integrity in the North.
Current Omanisation levels will double over the duration of the contracts, resulting in several thousand new work openings for Omanis, with an emphasis on professional jobs, supervisory roles, and engineering positions.
About 1,000 Omani workers will be trained, re-skilled, and upskilled under the Training for Employment scheme, and around 1,500 Omani employees from incumbent PDO contractors will be transferred and redeployed to the new contractors, according to the reports.
Besides, the agreements involve a five-year plan to establish a domestic firm to perform maintenance and integrity tasks in a specific cluster of PDO’s oil and gas portfolio.
As per the reports, “This further builds on the focus to introduce and mature a domestic contractor for turnarounds to carry out facility maintenance in scheduled shutdowns as recently endorsed by Oman LNG, OQ, OPAL, and PDO.”
Raoul Restucci, Managing Director at PDO said, “These strategic agreements create a win-win culture for PDO, our partner contractors, and Oman, in that they maximize capital efficiency, generate multi-million-dollar savings and enhance In-Country Value (ICV) opportunities.”
