• General State of the Economy
• Energy Resources
• Energy Balance
• Energy Infrastructure
• Education and Innovation
• Ecology and Environment Protection
• References

Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is an Arab country located in Western Asia, occupying the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula at the confluence of the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea. The country has land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen, and it shares maritime borders with Iran and Pakistan.

Source: [1,2,3,4,5]

Oman has substantial proven fossil fuel reserves. The share of oil reserves is 0.32% of the world’s total, the share of natural gas is 0.32% as well [6]. The share of the population of Oman is approximately 0.06% of the world's population. However, at the same time, oil and gas reserves in Oman are significantly lower than those of the world leaders. For instance, oil reserves are more than 9 times less than in the United Arab Emirates, while gas reserves are more than 36 times less than in Qatar [6]. It should be taken into account that in most fields in Oman oil has a high density and viscosity, therefore for its extraction costly methods of steam stimulation are used.

Table 1. Fossil energy resources of Oman

*share of the country’s reserves in world total is provided in brackets
**unproved technically recoverable

In terms of tons of oil equivalent, according to 2024 data, conventional proved reserves by fuel type were: 55.5% – oil, and 44.5% – gas (Fig.5). In addition to conventional oil and gas resources, Oman has significant reserves of Tight Oil и Shale Gas [7].

Because of its location in a desert region, the use of hydropower technology in Oman is not feasible because the country has few permanent water resources. Oman has good potential for wind power development. The most common wind speed is over 6.00 m/s up to 8.00 m/s at 50 m are distributed in the southeastern part of country, in Dhofar and Al Wusta Governorates, in some places along country coast with the Arabian Sea.

Table 2. Renewable energy resources of Oman

 *for the majority of the territory of the country

Like all southern countries, Oman has favourable conditions for the development of solar power generation.
There are many areas in the country where solar activity averages 6.0 kWh/m² per day. The highest DNI solar intensity reaches 6.8-7.1 kWh/m² per day, which is recorded in the south, in Dhofar province and in some places in the northeast between the three governorates of Oman.
Due to the lack of forests and the small area of agricultural land in the country, there is little raw material for the development of bioenergy. However, there is potential to use animal manure and wastewater for electricity generation [13].

According to [6], in 2022 in Oman, the total production of primary energy was 3.753 quadrillion Btu, while consumption was at the level of 1.411 quadrillion Btu. Thus, the share of domestic consumption in primary energy production is 37.6%, meaning that Oman is largely energy independent. The country is an important exporter of crude oil and gas, in particular to Asian countries. According to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2022, primary energy consumption in Oman in 2021 amounted to 1.50 exajoules and was dominated by natural gas – 71%, followed by oil – 28%, and coal – 0.7% [14].

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (Mar 2024) / www.eia.gov

Figure 2. The production and consumption of fossil fuels in Oman (left – coal, in the center – gas, right – oil)

Although fossil fuel consumption has increased in recent years, gas and oil production in Oman significantly exceeds domestic demand. In 2022, oil production was more than forth times higher than consumption and gas production about one and a half times higher. As noted above, natural gas accounted for about 70% of Oman’s domestic energy consumption. The only fossil product fully imported in Oman is coal, although consumption is insignificant. Total electricity generation and consumption in Oman have grown almost 2 times over the past ten years. In 2022, approximately 99% of electricity was produced by thermal power plants.

Renewables make almost no contribution to the overall electricity production balance, barely reaching a share of 0.6% through solar power plants.

The chart of Oman's energy indices is presented in the figure below.

Oman is one of the world's leading countries in terms of natural gas and oil reserves with production exceeding consumption rates. According to the data provided, Oman has extremely low electricity generation from renewable sources. However, Oman plans to launch several renewable energy projects in the next few years, thus realizing the country's huge solar potential. The country has a good ratio of production and consumption of electricity. In terms of GDP per unit of energy use, Oman's rating positions are substantially lower than the world average. On the contrary, the indicator of energy use per capita is very high.

A territorial map showing distribution of the largest infrastructure projects of the fossil fuel sector in Oman is displayed in Figure 5. As previously mentioned, oil reserves account for 55.5% of conventional proved reserves and natural gas for 44.5% (Fig.5).

The main oil and gas fields under development are located in the in the central and north-western part of the country, while the main heavy oil extraction fields are located closer to its southern regions. Oman’s conventional oil infrastructure include 2 operating oil refineries with a total crude oil processing capacity of 303 000 bpd; some oil terminals and oil storages. Another refinery at the port town of Duqm with a capacity of 230,000 barrels per day will be commissioned at the end of 2023. There are 3558 km of crude oil and 264 km of refined products pipelines.



Oman is one of the most advanced countries in the world in terms of heavy oil extraction. International thematic exhibitions and conferences devoted to this sector are traditionally held here. Many oil companies apply advanced technologies to develop heavy oil fields. In 2018, Petroleum Development Oman and GlassPoint Solar launched the first phase of the unique Miraah CSP project, which combines technologies to concentrate solar energy and inject steam into oil-bearing formations to subsequently reduce oil viscosity and facilitate its delivery to the surface. Solar energy is concentrated through parabolic mirrors, whose  design was developed by GlassPoint Solar. The thermal capacity of the concentrators is 1,021 MW, which is an absolute world record. The daily steam generation in the final design is 6,000 tons. This makes it possible to significantly reduce the consumption of natural gas and reduce harmful emissions into the atmosphere [15].

Conventional natural gas include: one operating LNG export terminal with a total export capacity of 10.8 million tons per year; some gas processing plants; 4224 km of natural gas and 106 km of condensate pipelines.

Figure 5. Basic infrastructure facilities of the fossil fuel sector in Oman (click on the map to view a PDF version)

In 2019, Oman had 8.9 GW of electricity generating capacity installed. Oman doesn't have a hydropower energy industry. As previously mentioned, in 2022, approximately 99% of electricity was produced by thermal power plants. The large solar power plant Amin with a total capacity of 105 MW is located near the Nimr area and started its commercial operation in 2020. However, there are plans to build solar plants with a capacity of up to 500 MW. One of them, Ibri 2 solar field, opened in January 2022 in Ad-Dhahirah province [16]. Oman has a large operating wind farm in the Dhofar Governorate comprising 50 MW.

Figure 6. Electricity production and renewable energy in Oman (click on the map to view a PDF version)

The Omani Government has announced the intention to expand its power generation capacities through green energy projects and plans to increase renewable energy capacity by about 4 GW by 2030 as well as to get about 40% of electricity from renewables by 2040. In addition, several gigawatt-scale green hydrogen projects have been announced, including a 14 GW plant powered by 25 GW of wind and solar power [17].

The following chart shows Oman's positions in terms of education and innovation:

Indicators related to environmental issues are presented in the following diagram:

[1] List of sovereign states and dependencies by area / Wikipedia / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_dependencies_by_area
[2] List of countries and dependencies by population density / Wikipedia / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_population_density
[3] Oman / The-world-factbook / Library / Central Intelligence Agency / https://www.cia.gov/
[4] GDP, PPP (constant 2011 international $) / World Bank, International Comparison Program database. License: CC BY-4.0 / Data / The World Bank / http://www.worldbank.org/
[5] GDP per capita, PPP (current international $)/ World Bank, International Comparison Program database. License: CC BY-4.0 / Data / The World Bank / http://www.worldbank.org/
[6] International Energy Statistic / Geography / U.S. Energy Information AdministrationJanuary, 7, 2019 / http://www.eia.gov/
[7] World Shale Resource Assessments / Analysis / U.S. Energy Information Administration (September 24, 2015) / https://www.eia.gov/
[8] Solar resource data obtained from the Global Solar Atlas, owned by the World Bank Group and provided by Solargis / Global Solar Atlas / http://globalsolaratlas.info/
[9] Wind Map / Global Wind Atlas 2.0, a free, web-based application developed, owned and operated by the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) in partnership with the World Bank Group, utilizing data provided by Vortex, with funding provided by the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP). For additional information: https://globalwindatlas.info
[10] Agricultural land (% of land area) / Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site. License: CC BY-4.0 / Data / The World Bank / http://www.worldbank.org
[11] Forest area (% of land area) /Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site. License: CC BY-4.0 / Data / The World Bank / http://www.worldbank.org
[12] World Bank What a Waste / Data / The World Bank / http://www.worldbank.org
[13] Biomass: A promising source for renewable energy development in Oman / 6 November 2022 / Observer / https://www.omanobserver.om
[14] BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2020 - 2022 (PDF) / BP / https://www.bp.com/
[15] Miraah/ 330 MW SOLAR THERMAL PROJECT IN THE SULTANATE OF OMAN www.glasspoint.com/projects/miraah
[16] Oman inaugurates 500MW Ibri 2 solar field / www.pv-magazine.com/2022/01/24/oman-inaugurates-500mw-ibri-2-solar-field/
[17] Oman - Country Commercial Guide / Country Commercial Guides / International Trade Administration / www.trade.gov

The sources of charts and curves are specified under the images.

For more information about the energy industry in Oman see here