The Sultanate of Oman’s crude oil production is projected to increase 9.8 percent to 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2022, helping further narrow the country’s current account deficit to 0.2 percent of GDP for the year, Fitch Solutions said in a new report.
“Bright prospects for oil prices and Omani production will be the main driver of a continued widening of the surplus in the trade in goods balance in 2022,” Fitch Solutions Group (FSG), an affiliate of Fitch Ratings, stated.
The output increase comes as the OPEC+ alliance, of which the Sultanate of Oman is a signatory, begins a rollback of production quotas adopted at the start of 2020 to shore up collapsing international oil prices. Oil production averaged 957K bpd in 2021, and is projected to rise to an average of 1,055K bpd in 2022, per the latest General Budget for the year.
Natural gas production, on the other hand, is anticipated to increase 4 percent to 39.7 billion cubic metres, buoyed by new volumes from BP Oman’s Block 61 gas fields and the Mabrouk projects in central Oman.
Commenting on the improved outlook for the Sultanate of Oman’s hydrocarbon sector, Fitch Solutions stated: “We are (..) expecting oil prices to remain elevated in 2022 with our Brent crude forecast at USD72.0 per barrel (/bbl) for the year, slightly up from USD71.0/bbl in 2021 and well above the 2020 average of USD43.21/bbl. Against this backdrop, we are forecasting oil and gas exports will grow by 10.5 percent in 2022 to reach USD18.2bn, the highest level since 2014 before oil prices crashed.”
