Oman, the Arabian Peninsula country and oil producer and long-standing LNG exporter, has been hit by a cyclone, causing major disruption with power cuts and flooding.
The Oil Ministry issued a statement saying that loadings and operations may be temporarily affected as “Cyclone Shaheen” moved along the Sea of Oman.
However, the Ministry said oil fields are far from the path of the cyclone and that there was unlikely to be interruptions to the production of oil nor of feed gas for LNG.
The main Omani LNG export facilities are at the port of Sur on the Gulf of Oman. The plant comprises the three amalgamated liquefaction Trains of two former separate companies, Oman LNG and Qalhat LNG.
Oman exports around 11 million tonnes per annum and its customers include South Korea with around 3.9MT of annual supplies, Japan with about 3MT as well as other leading importers like China and India.
Oman's National Multi Hazard Early Warning System said “Cyclone Shaheen” was accompanied by wind speeds of up to 116 kilometres per hour (72 mph) when it hit the country on October 3, with the cyclone causing heavy rainfall and high waves.
According to the authorities the areas affected by “Cyclone Shaheen” were in the wilayats of Musannah in South Al Batinah Governorate and Saham in North Al Batinah Governorate.
Rescues
There were no clear details of casualties, though dozens of people have been rescued by the Civil Defence and Ambulance Department (CDAA) in different areas.
Oman Air rescheduled 10 flights to an earlier departure time before the cyclone hit.
New gas fields have boosted feed-gas availability for LNG exports in the last few years from the onshore Block 61 comprising the Khazzan field, which began production in 2017, and the Ghazeer field, onstream since October 2020.
Block 61 covers around 3,950 square kilometres in central Oman, and contains the largest tight-gas development in the Middle East.
Gas from the Block is also sent for domestic consumption into Oman’s national gas grid.
Oman is also making progress with developing the Sohar Port and Freezone that is also the future site of an LNG bunkering project on the Arabian Sea coast and near the entry to the Gulf by the Strait of Hormuz.
Oman’s Sohar Port is one of the fastest-growing in the world because of its strategic location.
