Oman 2018 Strategic Roundtable

The event brought together His Excellency Salim bin Nasser Al Aufi, undersecretary of the Ministry of Oil and Gas; Raoul Restucci, managing director of PDO; Stephen Kelly, president and general manager of Occidental of Oman; David Campbell, operations manager of BP; Devaki Khimji, executive director of Al Tasnim Group; Andrew Sutherland, exploration director for Hydrocarbon Finder; Walter Simpson, managing director of CC Energy Development; and Mohsin Al Hadhrami, managing director of Schlumberger, to engage in an open and constructive dialogue about the progress Oman’s oil and gas industry has made and future perspectives given the deep changes taking place within the energy industry.

James Thomas, energy partner with Strategy&, was the moderator for the strategic roundtable.

The event, titled “Oman – The path towards a new energy future,” covered themes including the fourth industrial revolution and oil and gas development, the role of renewable energy and clean technologies in increasing energy efficiency and driving down costs, the strategic significance of R&D and development of indigenous processes to strengthen competitiveness, building lasting resilience in the industry to cope with oil price cycles and entrenching gains made by the industry during the downturn, among others.

Speaking about these technological changes, His Excellency Al Aufi stated, “The fourth industrial revolution is changing the way the industry works, with significant implications in terms of human capital,” while Devaki Khimji of Al Tasnim Group stated, “As a contractor, our side of the industry is very labour intensive. We are trying our best to make use of the latest technologies in helping people to be more productive in our operations.”

An edited version of the discussion will be published in full in The Oil & Gas Year Oman 2018 and on the TOGYiN business intelligence platform.