Oman Oil Marketing wins licence to operate filling stations in Saudi

Conrad Prabhu -

MUSCAT, MAY 8 -

Oman Oil Marketing Company (oomco) has announced that it has secured a licence to operate retail filling stations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, marking a key milestone in the partly government-owned retailer’s efforts to grow its regional footprint.

“The company is positive and looking forward on the development of this momentous opportunity,” Mulham al Jarf, Chairman, said in the Directors’ Report of the company’s Q1 performance.

“The company is strategically focused on the development of its retail network by introducing premium sites with modern concepts. This is an initiative to meet our customer needs, develop insight to inform our value propositions “care beyond fuelling” and choose the right gateway to maximise the benefits of our expertise,” he further added.

The move comes as local fuel marketing firms, including Oman Oil Marketing Company, seek to sustain growth and maintain bottom-lines amid constrained fiscal and economic development resulting from the low oil price environment.

Revenues have however burgeoned, fuelled by the uptrend in retail fuel prices which, with the exception of motor gasoline M91, are no longer regulated or capped. Prices have grown almost 70 per cent since subsidy on fuel was rolled back altogether early last year and linked to international crude prices.

Total revenues jumped 29 per cent to RO 118.9 million for the three months ending March 31, 2017, versus earnings of RO 92.5 million for the same quarter in 2016, said Oman Oil Marketing, attributing the growth to price deregulation.

However, pre-tax profit dropped 12 per cent to RO 2.19 million in Q1 2017, down from RO 2.49 million for the corresponding quarter of last year. “After providing for corporate tax, the company’s net profit amounted to RO 1.86 million, a 12 per cent decrease from that of the previous year,” Al Jarf said.

A higher corporate tax of 15 per cent has come into effect from 2017, versus a taxi of 12 per cent that was applicable until last year.

Oman Oil Marketing Company, a subsidiary of Oman Oil Company – the energy investment arm of the government – operates one of the largest networks of fuel stations in the Sultanate. As of December 31, 2017, the company operated a total of 184 outlets, with several more slated to open this year.