Oman's economy has weathered the global economic downturn well





By Andy Sambidge Monday, 11 April 2011 7:45 PM

Oman's economy has weathered the global economic downturn well, with growth starting to rebound, the International Monetary Fund has said.

The IMF's executive board said it remained "broadly positive" about medium-term economic prospects in the sultanate despite the recent protests by workers demanding better pay and conditions.

11 Oil Stocks figures in Bahrain and Oman

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Bahrain produced 48,430 barrels per day of oil and 444 billion cubic feet of natural gas in 2009. Moreover, the refinery capacity is 262,000 barrels per day of oil. It also exports 2,000 barrels per day of oil to the US. Proved reserves are 120 million barrels of oil and 3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, which ranked 56th and 50th in 2008, respectively.

A large algae bloom in the Sea of Oman destroyed a coral reef

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- A large algae bloom in the Gulf of Oman destroyed a coral reef in just three weeks, showing the threat such

The Japanese tanker damaged in the Strait of Hormuz was a terrorist attack

A Japanese tanker damaged last week in the Strait of Hormuz near Oman was the target of a terrorist

Oman's advantage in location outside the Gulf

Ivan Gale

igale@thenational.ae

Last Updated: March 18. 2010 9:23PM UAE / March 18. 2010 5:23PM GMT

As Oman invests heavily in attracting tourists to its natural wonders, it is also developing zones for heavy industries to capitalise on the country’s strategic position outside the Gulf.

Sohar, the country’s second-biggest city after Muscat, is the industrial hub with a deepwater port, steel and chemical plants and a growing cluster of manufacturing companies.

The city is looking to attract foreign companies to the free zone, where ground will be broken this summer for a 500 hectare first phase, said Edwin Lammers, the executive commercial manager for the Port of Sohar. The zone will ultimately grow to 4,500ha.

“In the port zone, there’s not much space left. The growth is minimal since it’s almost full,” he said. “The true growth will come from the free zone.”

Oman lacks the rich hydrocarbon reserves of neighbouring states such as Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia, but it has two advantages: ports outside of the Strait of Hormuz and regulations that make it easier for foreign companies to set up operations in the country.

At Sohar, officials have sought to find their niche in industries that are not well developed in other GCC states, such as producing raw materials for steel making.

Vale, the Brazilian mining conglomerate, is building a US$1.35 billion (Dh4.95bn) plant there to manufacture iron ore pellets, while Shadeed Iron and Steel will be commissioned as the country’s first integrated steel-making plant in the third quarter of this year.

Heavy industry is to play a critical role in diversifying the economy away from dwindling oil and gas reserves and towards labour-intensive industries.

The port is expected to create 15,000 jobs, while the first phase of the industrial zone should directly add 10,000 jobs and 25,000 in the wider economy, Mr Lammers said.

As Sohar develops more factories that convert the raw materials into finished products for consumers, the number of jobs could increase significantly, he said.

“Typically, upstream, large-scale industries have relatively low numbers of employees,” he said, referring to plants that produce raw materials. “The further downstream you go, the needs are greater for more skills and more technical labour.”

* Additional reporting by Chris Stanton

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UAE Oil Exports To Skip Hormuz

Tuesday, Mar 16, 2010

By Oliver Klaus

Oliver.Klaus@dowjones.com

+9714 446-1693

Of ZAYWA DOW JONES

FUJAIRAH (Zawya Dow Jones)--Contractors are working flat out in the United Arab Emirates to build a giant oil pipeline that will divert up to 1.8 million barrels a day of crude exports away from the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow shipping channel watched over by Iran.

Completion of the pipeline could transform the sleepy port of Fujairah on the East coast of the country where tankers will eventually dock to pick up oil instead of sailing an extra day into the Persian Gulf to the existing loading terminal.

Shifting about 78% of the U.A.E.'s current oil exports away from the existing route out of the Persian Gulf comes as the U.S. tries to turn up the heat on Iran with tougher sanctions to halt its nuclear program.

The Islamic republic has threatened shipping in the Gulf previously and could in theory close of the 33-mile-wide Hormuz channel between Iran and Oman at the entrance of the Persian Gulf if challenged.

"Occasionally there have been threats by Iranian officials to close the Straits in case of a military escalation over the ongoing nuclear standoff," said Eckart Woertz, chief economist at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center.

According to port officials in Fujairah the port will be ready to handle exports from the pipeline by the end of this year. The facilities and pipeline will be exporting crude early next year, Captain Mousa Murad, general manager of Port of Fujairah, told Zawya Dow Jones in an interview.

"Abu Dhabi is taking advantage of Fujairah's geographical location," he said. "But the big advantage is not only geography. We can also bring bigger ships here." Tankers could save time and money by loading crude in Fujairah as they avoid at least 24 hours of sailing into the Persian Gulf, he added.

Fujairah is already the world's second-largest bunkering terminal after Singapore.

Crude oil exported from Fujairah will come from the onshore Habshan field in Abu Dhabi. The emirate pumps about 95% of the crude in the U.A.E., a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

"From the port's point of view, the last tug will be ready by September," said Murad. The four new jetties being built at the port, known as Oil Terminal 2, will be completed by April and bring to eight the total number of piers handling crude tankers. The new jetties can handle Very-Large Crude Carriers, or VLCCs, with capacity of 180,000 deadweight tons, he said.

Key to the project is the completion of the $3.29 billion, 400-kilometer pipeline is being built by China Petroleum Engineering and Construction Corp., or CPECC, a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corp. Abu Dhabi government investment firm International Petroleum Investment Co. is the project developer. The company didn't respond to emailed questions about the status of the pipeline construction.

Fujairah port is also in the process of studying a masterplan that could see more jetties for oil exports added, Murad said. He added that "another masterplan for an open-sea terminal" was being looked into and could be implemented, "if we still need more terminals."

Turning Fujairah into an oil export hub is expected to boost traffic at the port, which saw a 15% increase in ships in 2009 despite the global economic slowdown.

Copyright (c) 2010 Dow Jones & Co.

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"Catastrophic failure" in management caused a collision between a USA warship and a submarine

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:03:54 GMT

AR/MMN

A collision between a nuclear-powered US Navy submarine and a US warship in the Strait of Hormuz was caused by "catastrophic failure" in management, a US Navy report says.

US Navy investigators found that "ineffective and negligent" management and the failure of navigation practices were to blame for a March 2009 collision between the USS Hartford and the USS New Orleans, an amphibious vessel.

"This incident comes down to weak and complacent leadership, which led to inadequate planning and preparation of the crew," the Navy Times said in its report.

Commander of US Fleet Forces Command Adm. John C. Harvey Jr. endorsed the findings of the report and described the collision as "avoidable."

"Correction of any one of nearly 30 tactical and watchstander errors, or adherence to standard procedure, could have prevented this collision," he was quoted by AFP as saying.

"In this case, the command team failed to do so, and a high price has been paid for that shortcoming," he explained.

Fifteen sailors aboard the submarine were injured. One of the diesel tanks of the New Orleans was ruptured, which resulted in an oil spill of approximately 25,000 gallons (90,000 liters) of diesel fuel.

The collision also inflicted hefty financial damages at a time when the United States is still recovering from recession. The USS Hartford is undergoing an extensive repair, which is expected to cost about USD 100 million, while the USS New Orleans suffered damages worth USD 2.3 million.

The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman, connects the Persian Gulf with the Sea of Oman. Nearly 40 percent of the world's crude oil passes through this waterway.

© 2009 Press TV. All rights reserved.

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$200 million loan agreement for Oman's Sohar Industrial Port Company

By Saleh al-Shaibany

 28 September 2009

Oman's Sohar Industrial Port Company on Monday signed a $200 million loan agreement with local and international banks to finance a port project.

The bank consortium consists of Bank Muscat, National Bank of Oman, Bank Dhofar, Ahli Bank and State Bank of India.

"The money will be used to finance the construction of the jetty at Port of Sohar," Edwin van Espen, Head of Sohar Port Special Projects told Reuters on the sidelines of the signing ceremony.

He added that a joint venture between Italy's Saipem and India's Afcons was awarded the contract to build the 600 meter long jetty and a deep water basin. (Reuters)

 

Published in

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/568786-omans-sohar-port-signs-200m-project-loan

A pipeline to avoid the Strait of Hormuz

Friday, 08 May 2009

Bloomberg reported that Abu Dhabi's state run International Petroleum Investment Company will complete building an oil pipeline to Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman by 2011, allowing shipments to bypass the Strait of Hormuz.Mr Dieter Blauberg project director of IPIC said that the 1.5 million barrel a day pipeline will provide crude to load a first tanker in January 2011 to carry oil from Fujairah to Abu Dhabi's global customers.Sending fuel overland to Fujairah, a transit point with direct access to the Arabian Sea, will allow Abu Dhabi to avoid sending tankers through Hormuz.

(Sourced from Bloomberg)

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http://steelguru.com/news/index/2009/05/08/OTM1NTg%3D/IPIC_pipeline_to_avoid_Hormuz.html

USA use of force

By David Ignatius

Just as the policy mavens were beginning to debate elaborate political-military strategies for dealing with the Somali pirates, we were reminded that the best solution is sometimes the simplest and most direct -- in this case, a sniper’s rifle

The Navy seals waited stealthily on board the USS Bainbridge for the right moment, and then: pow! Nightmare over. I don’t mean to overdo the gung-ho enthusiasm, but this was a correct and proportionate use of military power. Given the brutality of the pirates’ hostage-taking, and the threat they increasingly posed to maritime traffic in the Gulf of Oman, some decisive action was necessary. And it was taken.

The larger point (there’s always one of those lurking in op-ed land) is that we too often use a howitzer -- or an F-16 -- when a sniper rifle should be the weapon of choice. That is, the United States as a nation tends to favor big, direct deployment of military power when something more limited and discrete would make better sense. That’s one lesson of Iraq and Afghanistan. Invading foreign countries willy-nilly should be an option of last resort; and as we’ve discovered, once the United States gets in, it often can’t get out easily without suffering a serious strategic reversal.

These issues will come to a head over the next few weeks, as the Obama administration tries to frame a Somalia policy. An early sign of this debate was the story in last Saturday’s Washington Post by Greg Jaffe and Karen DeYoung about the administration’s review of policy options against the Muslim militia known as al-Shabab, which dominates the lawless land from which the pirates emerged.

The rag-tag nature of this “insurgency” is conveyed by its name, which in Arabic means “the boys.” Despite al-Shabab's growing power, it’s still closer to a youth gang than a strategic threat to the United States. It poses a menace, to be sure, in the way gun-toting bad guys do in ungoverned spaces anywhere on the planet. But it shouldn’t prompt a big, overt military deployment, or even those “surgical strikes” that air force commanders like to talk about.

This is the kind of problem for which U.S. Special Forces and the covert operators of the Central Intelligence Agency were created. They can move quickly and quietly to alter the balance of power on the ground, just as they have done at sea. They should be subject to close congressional oversight, in secret. The less the rest of the world sees the American footprint in Somalia, the better.

By David Ignatius April 13, 2009; 12:46 PM ET Category: Ignatius Previous: Going Way Too Far to Help the Homeless Next: The Maersk Alabama Captain vs. Sully Sullenberger Main Index

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