Oman will commission a new phase of a giant gas project next year, the sultanate’s oil minister said on Monday at a petroleum industry event in Abu Dhabi.

“We just commissioned half of Khazzan project and we are commissioning the second half of the project next year,” Oman's oil minister Mohammed bin Hamad Al-Rumhi said during a ministerial panel at Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC).

British energy firm BP has a 60 percent interest in the Khazzan gas field project, while the remaining 40 percent is held by Oman Oil Company Exploration and Production.

Both companies agreed in 2016 to extend licensing agreements which would increase the expected production.

“Technology will play a big role. The nature of gas reservoirs (in Oman) is tight, productivity is an issue, and the cost is an issue,” Al-Rumhi said.

“BP and others have done a wonderful job in Oman. When we started drilling our first few wells with BP it took 100 days (to drill and complete a well) and now we are doing it in 50 days, partly because of technology,” he added.

The two phases of Khazzan project will develop around 10.5 trillion cubic feet of gas, BP said, according to a report by Reuters in September.

“The role of gas in general is going to play a bigger part and new markets are emerging,” Al-Rumhi said.

“The pricing structure of LNG helps to encourage countries to turn to LNG as a sensible source of energy,” he added.

© ZAWYA 2017