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Oman Appoints New Energy Minister

Oman's Sultan, Haitham bin Tariq al-Said, has named Salim al-Aufi as the country's new minister of energy and minerals as part of a limited cabinet reshuffle announced on 16 June, according to a source familiar with the matter.

 

Al-Aufi, who has served as undersecretary to the ministry since 2013, replaces long-time industry veteran Mohammed al-Rumhy who had held the post since December 1997.

 

A petroleum engineer by training, al-Aufi has had a career in energy spanning around three decades, holding several positions in Oman's oil and gas sector.

 

Al-Aufi started at state-controlled PDO in 1992 and progressed to become director of PDO Oil North, which oversees the operation of the company's northern oil assets, in 2010.

 

Al-Aufi has also had stints abroad as a petroleum engineer and asset planner for Shell Nigeria, and later as a vice president of production at Shell Canada.

 

Al-Aufi was appointed chief executive of the Public Authority for civil aviation in May 2012, before moving to the ministry in December 2013.

 

As undersecretary, he has had oversight of exploration and production, and electricity and mining regulatory responsibilities in the sultanate.

 

Al-Aufi takes the helm of Oman's energy ministry at a key time as the country looks to navigate the transition towards less carbon-intensive sources of energy.

 

Oman is the Mideast Gulf region's largest non-Opec oil producer, with overall crude and condensate production of 1.05mn b/d in May, according to energy ministry data, the highest since the 1.1mn b/d in April 2020.

 

Al-Rumhy said earlier this month that Oman expects to raise its crude and condensate production capacity by another 50,000-100,000 b/d within the next two-three years.

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