Oman Increases Its Appeal To China And Iran With Game-Changing Duqm Project

The long-awaited US$8.5 billion 230,000-barrels per day (bpd) Duqm Refinery Project (DRP) – and its ancillary projects (costing another US$10 billion or so) – were officially inaugurated on 7 February, increasing the already significant allure of the sultanate to China and nearby Iran. The Duqm project was envisioned by Oman as being the key method by which it could maximise the returns from its relatively low oil and gas reserves (only around five billion barrels of oil reserves and about 24 trillion cubic feet of gas) by refining…