In pursuit of growth in value-added services

Oman

Abdullah Al Hammasi, general manager of Oman Oil Industries Supplies & Services (OOISS), talks to The Energy Year about the company’s growing engagement with clients through value-added services and plans to scale up in-country manufacturing capabilities. OOISS provides equipment and services for oil and gas, petrochemicals and process control applications.

Which of your service lines are most in demand at the moment, and which do you see becoming dominant going forward?
We operate from two main bases in Muscat and Nizwa. Nizwa is a service facility that gives us fast access to most of the oil and gas fields in the country. Muscat houses our fire and safety business, with product storage and a small service centre. We also maintain a presence in Nizwa that focuses on valves and instrumentation services.
Our business was originally built on chemicals, and we have been a dominant player in Oman for five decades, with a share of the oilfield chemicals market that has held at around 80%. However, as competition has increased, we have evolved. Today, our highest revenue comes from water treatment and chemical processes, businesses that have grown rapidly in recent years and are now our main strategic priority.
Our well services and chemical solutions segments are also growing steadily. They include newer services such as completions, casing, liner hangers, finishing and mud logging. We began offering them three years ago, and they are already contributing significantly. Next in importance are our mechanical and instrumentation services, which are in demand both in oil and non-oil industries, and our fire and safety division.

You recently entered the drilling fluids market. How does this complement your traditional chemical offerings?
The drilling fluids segment marks a significant shift for us because it’s not just trading chemicals – it is a full-fledged service operation. Drilling fluids require specialised field engineering, laboratory analysis, mixing and technical delivery.
It is a complex business and part of our shift from trading to service provision. Instead of just selling products, we want clients to trust us with optimising and troubleshooting throughout the drilling process. We have already been awarded three contracts in this space and expect to grow substantially.

OOISS has worked with international companies such as Dow and SUEZ. Do these partnerships help you expand your technical capabilities?
We are proud to be recognised as a trusted partner by major global companies. Being part of The Zubair Corporation, a well-established Omani group with companies across the GCC, gives us credibility and reach. Some of our partnerships span decades. Others, such as Fishbones and Wellstarter from Norway, have allowed us to bring cutting-edge technologies into Oman.
Our role is not just to represent these technologies but to integrate them locally, tailoring them to Oman’s specific challenges. We are constantly identifying gaps and pain points and then sourcing global innovations that address them effectively.

To what extent do your domestic manufacturing and services contribute to in-country value creation?
In-country value is more than a compliance metric for us. Omanisation has been a priority from day one, and we are proud that more than 80% of our workforce is local today. Beyond hiring, we help SMEs and local companies gain traction in their business by allocating them work packages.
We also invest heavily in introducing new technologies to Oman, with the intention of eventually localising them. Some of these technologies take up to three years to be implemented, but we are patient and focused on building long-term solutions.
Our sales engineering teams work to identify client problems and scout solutions globally, and we are developing infrastructure to reduce external service requirements and turnaround time. For example, to avoid sending certain valves back to the Netherlands for maintenance, we are building facilities to handle that locally.

Looking ahead, which segments of the oilfield services value chain are your priority?
We want to grow in well services and chemical water treatment, which are both high-demand segments where we can truly add value with differentiated services. We are also sourcing new mechanical and instrumentation technologies from Europe – names such as Mokveld valves from the Netherlands and BROEN from Denmark – and the USA.
While we are expanding across all divisions, our main focus is to strengthen service offerings. We want to become less dependent on trading and more invested in value-added services that solve operational challenges.

Have you set any targets for international expansion?
Our top priority is to continue strengthening our in-country capabilities for service delivery and growth in niche markets. We are investing in our Nizwa facility to enhance maintenance capabilities for pumps, heat exchangers and other critical equipment, thereby eliminating the need to send components abroad for servicing.
By 2027, we expect to be conducting business outside Oman. Our initial targets are Tanzania, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait because those markets align well with our experience and offerings. We are sourcing partners in those countries. We don’t want to replicate services that are already available, but rather, introduce capabilities that the domestic market does not offer.
We see our clients as partners, not just customers. We believe in bringing solutions for mutual growth. Our vision is to solve the industry’s challenges with innovation, agility and integrity. As we move deeper into services, our goal remains to elevate Oman’s energy services landscape, increase in-country value and create sustainable growth for everyone in the value chain.

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