Four major oil and gas companies in Oman have joined forces to boost the level of Omanisation in major maintenance work on their facilities
Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), Oman Shell, Oman LNG and the Oman Oil-Orpic Group signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 2 September committing the operators to collaborate on developing a self-sustaining business model for the turnaround activities of oil and gas installations.
The five-year MoU was signed during the World Heavy Oil Congress and Exhibition held under the auspices of Salim bin Nasser Al Aufi, undersecretary of the ministry of oil and gas, at the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Raoul Restucci, PDO managing director, said, “The turnaround project is a great example of vital operators, covering the full spectrum of up/mid and downstream operations in the Oman oil and gas industry, working collaboratively together to deliver In-Country Value.
“The project will deliver important and fundamental skills and services in Oman by Omanis. By integrating and synchronising our major facility shutdown and maintenance plans, we have secured the scale, scope and continuity of work that will enable us all to develop and deploy Omani talent cost-effectively and sustainably within and beyond our industry.”
A turnaround entails the shutdown of a plant for a period of time for maintenance, refitting and inspection purposes before it is brought back on stream.
The total workforce for a 20-day turnaround can reach up to 800-900 people with major shutdowns involving 1,200 or more depending on the size and complexity of a plant.
However, it is believed that aggregating the demand from the four oil and gas companies and providing consistent and continuous work will encourage the localisation of turnaround services and increase Omanisation levels.
A joint working group and a task force have been established to build alignment, develop its scope and set future actions. The ultimate goal is to increase Omanisation in the Turnaround Execution Workforce (“TEW”), with potential for future expansion in other activities based upon the success of the new initiative.
Ahmed al Azkawi, head of procurement contracts and inventory at the Oman Oil and Orpic Group, added, “Demand aggregation among operators marks the beginning of strong collaboration in the oil and gas sector to create sustainable opportunities for contractors to increase their Omanisation rates and ICV content. Through this collaboration, we also hope to replicate demand aggregation in other areas to create more ICV opportunities.”
