Petroleum Development Oman

Founded in 1937, with its first export of oil in 1967, Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) is the leading E&P company in Oman. It has almost 10,000 employees. The company’s shareholders are the Government of Oman (60%), Shell (34%), TotalEnergies (4%) and PTTEP (2%). It operates in some of the most complex and challenging oil and gasfields and is among the world leaders in EOR techniques, pioneering the use of polymer, steam and miscible gas injection on a full-field scale.

• Mission: Build a sustainable and low-carbon future to maximise value for Oman
• Key sustainability initiatives: In February 2023, PDO opened  the USD 220-million Rima Water Treatment Plant, which uses a gravitational oil and water separation and natural biological treatment process (an emerging breakthrough technology that is the first of its kind to be used in Oman). This innovative solution not only ensures the effective treatment of produced water but also creates a desert oasis for local wildlife.
• Oil and gas assets: PDO is the operator of Block 6 –  the country’s main block, and which is one of the onshore region’s oil richest blocks and accounts 1.1% of total remaining reserves of producing conventional oilfields globally.
• Partnerships with Shell: PDO signed a MoU with Shell Development Oman to jointly study CCUS for blue hydrogen production on Block 10. It also inked an agreement with Oman Shell for seismic acquisition in Block 11 with the aim of getting data to unlock Oman’s full hydrocarbons reserve potential.
• Decarbonisation roadmap: PDO has a transition pathway to low-carbon future which will see the company halve the existing CO2 emissions by 2030. The actual carbon emissions of PDO in 2019 were 12 million tonnes, reduced to 10.5 million tonnes in 2021. PDO’s aspirations are to reduce the CO2 emissions to 6 million tonnes by 2030 and then go net zero by 2050. The full roadmap contains a range of projects including energy efficiency, flaring reduction, fugitive methane elimination, water disposal projects, CCUS, low-carbon fuel and nature-based solutions.

Around 10% of PDO’s hydrocarbons production comes from EOR projects, but it estimated that this will increase to 25% by 2025. PDO produces around 1.6 GW of power for its own consumption, with around 10% of that coming from renewables.

Targets for the future:

• Medium-term target for oil production is to reach 700,000+ bopd and to potentially move towards 800,000 bopd
• Reaching 35% of power generation coming from renewables for the company’s own consumption by 2026 and 50% by 2030
• Plan to rig new 1,000 wells in 2023/2024
• Bring first wind farm (Riyah-1) on stream in 2024

Company website: www.pdo.co.om