Petroleum Development Oman plans to become a full-fledged energy firm

(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Muscat- Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) is planning to transform itself into a fully-fledged energy company in the coming years with a greater focus on using renewable energy to increase efficiencies and create jobs.

'We recently presented to our board the opportunities in PDO services and transforming PDO into Energy Development Oman (EDO), which covers these additional streams,' Raoul Restucci, managing director of PDO, said on Wednesday.

Restucci was speaking on the topic of 'Energy transition' at a public lecture series organised by Muscat University. The event was attended by over 200 delegates, including ministers, senior officials from various ministries, representatives of private firms and university students.

He said the additional streams PDO plans to focus on include; using renewable energy such as solar, tidal and wind to produce electricity and utilising existing PDO infrastructure for creating jobs and other opportunities for citizens.

'Now, we are generating steam, producing water, harnessing power through solar cells installed over car parking areas and has signed contracts for flare-to-power projects. PDO is doing so many things at a time, sometimes I wonder whether it would be correct to call us merely as an oil and gas firm,' Restucci said.

He said that all these activities have been added under the company's portfolio without increasing headcount.
Speaking about PDO's future plans, he said the company has completely transformed itself in the past few years and has added a large number of activities over the years either to save cost or to improve efficiency.

'EDO is still only at a concept level, which is being discussed by the board. But going forward this is the way to generate jobs, and increase in-country-value (ICV),' he said.

Putting emphasis on adoption of advance technologies such Artificial Intelligence and machine learning process to improve efficiency, Restucci said going forward electrical vehicles are set to become more popular but that doesn't mean demand for hydrocarbons will come to an end abruptly.

'There will be lots of activities such as power generation, industrial activities and fertiliser productions which would need hydrocarbons. But there would be so much of oil available that producers have to compete among themselves to become more and more efficient in producing, exploring and transporting crude oil,' said Restucci.

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