Mohammed Al Riyami - Forty-seven years have passed so fast under the wise leadership of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos. We are extremely blessed to have experienced the sterling development. The progress achieved is in front of our eyes, making our iris expand with awe. In leaps and bounds, we have achieved milestones in making our lives easy, safe and secure.
The reflection of the past is like a pebble in a pond and resonating our deep-rooted culture filled with rich history.
This has provided us with a platform for the country to grow in the right direction.
In the early days, for example, we had a few roads, one airport and few hospitals.
Now our country is like a pond filled with precious stones shining so bright.
The wheels of motion and progress are perpetually turning.
Never resting on our laurels.
Our flag white, red and green typifies peace, fertility and our pledge to our country.
The country transcends into different sectors and with important statistics to reveal.
In the oil and gas sector, our production has averaged 967,000 barrels per day in July 2017.
Albeit we have reached the magical 1 million barrels per day.
PDO is relentlessly working
hard on production and lean optimisation.
On the gas front, our output has reached 23.92 million cubic feet.
Our Oman LNG trains have pumped out 8.5 million metric tonnes per annum
BP with Oman Oil on the Khazzan field are rewarding us with gas of 1.0 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d).
This harvest is yet to be realised at 1.5 bcf/d in phase 2.
It envisages 10.5 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas.
Gas is used to power the plants, and over the years we have witnessed increased power plants introduced to provide us electricity.
Peak demand is growing 9 per cent per year with approximately 5,000 MW in 2014 to 9,500 MW in 2021.
Musandam Power Plant costing RO 93.6 million has been inaugurated to coincide with the 47th National Day.
On the horizon we may expect to see more renewables at play.
Holding hands and hearts pumping with enthusiasm we march forward to the future.
The horizon is surely shining with so many projects in the pipeline.
In anticipation, the new Muscat International Airport will have initial capacity of 12 million passengers.
The passenger terminal will have 96 check-in counters.
Sohar and Salalah already have new airports.
In Duqum, important projects have cropped up like the dry dock, ship repair and petrochemicals.
We also hear that Oman will also venture into car manufacturing.
Increased tourism with new hotels entering the market and a new convention/exhibition centre will draw in crowds and in turn bring in extra revenue.
New buildings, mall, roads, universities and hospitals are all contributing to make our life easier and enrich our economy.
Foreign Direct Investment is at RO 8 billion during the first half of 2017.
On all fronts, the numbers speak for themselves and are encouraging with new projects and milestones at the fore.
Our country’s pond is expanding with precious gems and we can reflect with pride.
Past accomplishments and past maritime history have put us in good stead to move forward and seize new opportunities.
May Allah grant us continued peace, happiness, security, prosperity and good health to His Majesty.
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