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Gas from Dolphin project likely to arrive next month

MUSCAT -- Qatari gas supplied via the Dolphin project could begin flowing into Oman as early as next month, Dr Mohammed bin Hamed al Rumhy, Minister of Oil and Gas, said. Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a PDO contract signing ceremony yesterday, Dr Al Rumhy said he was hopeful that gas supplies from Qatar's giant North Field could commence in July. "We are currently testing the compressor stations at Buraimi," in preparation for the arrival of the gas, he stated.

The Sultanate is expected to receive around 200 million standard cubic feet per day (mmsf/d) of gas via the Dolphin project under an agreement reached in 2004 between the state-owned Oman Oil Company (OOC) with Abu Dhabi-based Dolphin Energy Limited (DEL) . DEL , which is jointly owned by Mubadala Development Company, Total and Occidental Petroleum, has already begun pumping Qatari gas to the UAE via a submarine pipeline. On the Oman side, a bi-directional pipeline that until last July supplied Omani gas to DEL as part of the same 2004 agreement, will channel the Qatari gas to the industrial hub at Sohar when supplies commence.

Oman Gas Company (OGC) , which operates the country's energy transportation network, has built a compression station at Buraimi to facilitate the flow of low pressure Dolphin gas to Sohar. Gas supplies from the Dolphin project will open a new source of feedstock and energy for the Sultanate's rapidly expanding industrial and petrochemical sector. Asked about prospects for enhanced imports from the Dolphin project, Dr Al Rumhy said: "We are always asking for more gas from everywhere, not just from Dolphin. The question is can we get it? The gas (situation) is very tight now across the whole region."

Commenting on a proposal by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states to develop an intra-Gulf gas network, Dr Al Rumhy said the initiative was presently being pursued bilaterally, rather than as a bloc. "I think it is making progress, but more on a bilateral front, than on a multilateral GCC level. We are already connected with the UAE, while Qatar is in discussion with Bahrain, so things are moving."

Meanwhile, the ministry is expected to shortly award the first of a number of oil and gas blocks against production sharing agreements. A number of onshore and offshore blocks are being offered to international oil firms as part of the government's ongoing efforts to augment hydrocarbon reserves. "We are on the verge of awarding one block," the minister said. Significantly, non-Opec member Oman has no plans to be part of an initiative mooted by some gas producing countries to create a gas cartel on the lines of Opec. "We are not part of 'Gas Opec'. We are not a big player in gas, anyway," Dr Al Rumhy stated.

By Conrad Prabhu

© Oman Daily Observer 2008