Oman's PDO to cut contractor staffing levels due to coronavirus quarantine restrictions

Dubai — Petroleum Development Oman, the largest oil and natural gas producer in the Gulf state, plans to reduce contractor staffing levels due to coronavirus quarantine restrictions that may lead to material shortages in the Middle East's biggest oil producer outside OPEC.

"PDO in partnership with its contractors, is exploring how to minimize COVID-19 contamination risk in our large engineering maintenance and construction projects, some of which will also experience material shortages, as global supply chains are increasingly constrained," it said Sunday in a statement. "This review, which will include reducing contractor staffing levels, was taken after very careful consideration of potential exposure and quarantining requirements and we have now started detailed discussions with contractors to determine how best to deploy manpower resources and to limit the size and staff concentration in contractor camps."

The Omani government has a 60% stake in PDO, with Shell holding a 34% share. Oman's output of crude oil and condensates in February was 955,500 b/d.

Oman plans to boost volumes to full capacity of 1 million b/d over the next few months, S&P Global Platts reported previously.