SULTANATE’S NATURAL GAS CONSUMPTION JUMPS 5%

Muscat –

Rising demand for natural gas from industrial and power-generation projects and oilfields in the sultanate has boosted the total consumption of gas by five per cent during the first eleven months of 2015.

Oman’s total gas consumption jumped to 36,261mn cubic metres (mncm) during the January–November period this year, against 34,535mncm in the corresponding period of 2014, statistics released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) showed.

Gas use in industrial projects, which account for the largest chunk, increased by 3.4 per cent to 19,856mncm, while use of natural gas in power generation rose by four per cent to 7,811mncm.

Natural gas consumption in Oman’s oilfields – where gas is used as fuel and for re-injection – jumped by 10.9 per cent to 7,983mncm from 7,199mncm a year earlier. The major increase was registered for gas employed in re-injection, where consumption stood at 3,356mncm, which was nearly 27 per cent higher compared to the previous year. Gas used as fuel in oilfields was up by 8.6 per cent to 2,517mncm.

Domestic gas production and gas imports in total stood at 36,261mncm during the first eleven months of this year, up five per cent from the same period of 2014. Though Oman is not a major importer of natural gas, the country does import natural gas from Qatar through the Dolphin pipeline system.

In August, a Bloomberg report had said that Oman may start importing liquefied natural gas to meet surging domestic energy demand, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

Oman currently exports liquefied gas under long-term contracts to Spain and several Asian countries including Japan and South Korea. It’s now studying options to import LNG as well, to help generate power and for other uses, the report said.

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