RAK to keep exploring despite Oman gas setback

RAK Petroleum will push ahead with plans to explore for natural gas in Oman despite losing its partner firm earlier this year and encountering significant technical challenges last year, a senior executive said yesterday.

The company is planning to drill two exploration wells this year and increase existing production at two fields offshore from the Musandam Peninsula, said Alain Duport, the general manager of RAK Petroleum.

The company’s priority this year, he said, was Block 47, a large tract less than 100km from the Abu Dhabi border that has several prospects, including a gasfield in which the company was drilling a well at a cost of US$15 million (Dh55m).