PDO to create 4,000 Omani jobs per year over five years

Mr. Restucci recently participated in an interview with The Energy Exchange, stating that PDO has set a target of creating 4,000 Omani jobs per year over the five-year business plan, covering PDO and contractor requirements. He further continued to identify trends, opportunities, and challenges faced by IOCs and NOCs interested in, and currently operating in the GCC region.

With the doubling of global energy demand projected by 2050, the Middle East will continue to be a significant supplier of gas, but the combined domestic and export opportunities will require a large capital and skilled manpower resourcing as new and more difficult hydrocarbon plays are appraised and developed.

As demand for gas increases, there is a much greater responsibility and economic imperative on both IOCs and NOCs to find and extract it. However, as seen with oil, the reservoirs of gas are becoming much more difficult to access as the easy gas has gone and it is now much hotter, deeper and sourer.

"We have to continuously find and invest in the best talent and technology to discover and recover gas and review the entire supply chain to make sure the exploration and development process is more economical," said Mr. Restucci.

Deeper and tighter fields mean drilling deeper and longer, creating its own knock-on effect in terms of environmental, safety and social consequences.

Mr. Restucci, said: "For PDO, this means not only complying with increasingly more stringent HSE rules and regulations but also achieving and retaining a social license from the communities where we operate. We need, and want, their consent to operate and this means investing in vital infrastructure, education, vocational training, and job creation in those areas."

PDO has developed an In-Country Value Strategy, which involves supporting local community companies, increasing the procurement of local goods and services, and improving the capacity and capability of the Omani people and businesses in order to secure long-term sustainable commercial benefits

"As part of this strategy, we have also implemented a comprehensive social investment programme with a particular focus on training to help low-income individuals and families in our concession area to build their own businesses or secure meaningful employment," said Mr. Restucci.

According to Undersecretary at the Ministry of Oil and Gas in Oman, Nasser Bin Khamis Al-Jashmi recently announced that Oman spends between US$8 billion annually in investments in the oil and gas sector, both upstream and downstream.

Governments have an important regulatory and monitoring role to play in helping address any challenges.

In order sustain the progression in the gas sector, Mr. Restucci states that governments need to provide a stable political and economic environment and workable labour laws. Furthermore, they also need to put in place a modern infrastructure and a sound educational and training system to produce the new generation of technical talent, which will take the gas industry to the next level.

Mr. Restucci is confirmed to participate at the eighth annual Gas Arabia Summit to be held in Muscat, Oman from 2 - 5 December 2012, covering the entire value chain from Ministerial addresses to technical roundtables on the future of natural gas in the GCC region.