The Oman Oil Company (OOC), established in the late 1980s, is responsible for the government's foreign petroleum activities. The board of directors consists of former government officials and private advisers and is responsible to the Ministry of Petroleum and Minerals. The OOC engages in internatiÍÍÍÍonal oil trading, including the purchase and sale of Omani crude oil, and in acquiring foreign downstream (see Glossary) holdings. Acquiring foreign downstream holdings is the most recent development in the ministry's oil policies, lagging behind such other Arab oil producers as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Libya, which have actively pursued foreign downstream ventures to ensure a secure market for crude oil sales.

As of late 1992, the OOC was negotiating equity interest in a foreign downstream venture, the acquisition of a 20 percent stake in Thailand's fifth refinery, in Rayong Province in the south. The refinery is designed to process up to 120,000 bpd of crude and will cost US$600 million. Operations are scheduled to begin in 1996 and will involve Oman's supplying part of the refinery's feedstock. Also, as a member of a consortium including Chevron Corporation of the United States, the OOC has committed itself to build an export pipeline to transport oil from the Tengiz and Korolyov fields in Kazakhstan to international markets. The pipeline complements an agreement signed on June 18, 1992, by the government of Oman with Kazakhstan for exploration and production of oil and gas in the former Soviet republic. The Tengiz and Korolyov fields are said to have a potential output of 700,000 bpd by 2010.

Data as of January 1993