(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Muscat- Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) celebrated the 80th anniversary of its founding and 50th anniversary of its first oil export, at a ceremony held at its headquarters on Sunday. PDO's origins go back to an agreement signed between His Majesty Sultan Said bin Taimur and Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC) on June 24, 1937. IPC at the time was the sole oil producer in Iraq.
The agreement granted IPC a 75-year concession for oil exploration in what was then divided between Oman and Dhofar. Petroleum Development (Oman and Dhofar) Ltd was created to manage IPC's operations. The company spent the next 30 years surveying, exploring, negotiating, and building infrastructure. Oil was discovered in northern Oman, and the first shipment took place in the summer of 1967.
On July 27, 1967 Norwegian tanker Mosprince arrived at Saih al Maleh (now called Mina al Fahal) to transport 543,800 barrels of oil to Japan valued at US$1.42 a barrel. Other significant events in PDO's history include, the acquiring of a 60 per cent stake in the company in 1974 by the Omani government. In 1980, PDO was restructured into an LLC via a Royal Decree, and the company took its current name. In 1991, it began producing gas. And in 2002, it started implementing its Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) strategy.
On May 12, 2013, His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said paid a historic visit to the PDO headquarters, in what is now known as PDO Day. Sunday was also the fourth celebration of PDO Day. The event was held under the auspices of H E Dr Mohammed bin Hamad al Rumhi, Minister of Oil and Gas and chairman of the PDO board. It was attended by H E Salim bin Nasser al Aufi, Undersecretary in the Ministry of Oil and Gas, PDO shareholders and board members and staff.
'PDO has a long and very proud history and has played a central role in the development of the sultanate over many decades under His Majesty the Sultan's leadership. PDO Day provided an excellent opportunity to reflect on the origins of the company and to recognise the contribution of everyone who have helped to make it what it is today,' said Raoul Restucci, managing director, PDO.
The PDO Day programme included the premiere of a short film highlighting the company's development since 1937, the announcement of winners in an Arabic and English language poetry competition and the annual awards ceremony. Restucci praised the company's achievements and said it continued to lead the way in many areas including HSE, production, exploration, in-country value, lean continuous business improvement, well & reservoir facilities management (WRFM), enhanced oil recovery and new technology implementation.
Restucci emphasised that the company was actively pursuing a broad sustainability agenda and needed to embrace new ideas and explore opportunities across energy and water value chains and beyond.
Sunday's event also included PDO's annual awards ceremony incorporating the 13th Chairman's Award for Excellence (CAE) and the 5th Dr Abdulla al Lamki for Developing Talent Award (DALTA). The 2016 winner of the CAE Gold Technical Award was the Shammar play opening in the Lekhwair field in northern Oman which successfully unlocked 40mn barrels of CCR volumes from a high-permeability reservoir. The team overcame many challenges to deliver robust volumes at low cost with accelerated production in record time.
The winning CAE Gold entry in the Non-Technical category was PDO's Journey Management Control Centre which has played a critical role in improving road safety and is a first in the sultanate. The centre tracks over 8,000 PDO and contractor vehicles equipped with the in-vehicle monitoring systems (IVMS) and helped to secure a significant reduction in traffic violations.
Abdulnabi Abdulmajed al Balushi, Mechanical Lead in PDO's Engineering function was named as the DALTA winner. He was recognised for his significant contribution in developing and mentoring young graduate engineers.
MENAFN1405201701410000ID1095478778
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.