Oman's PDO tenders $7 bln of oil contracts

State-run Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) will close the qualification process on Tuesday for companies interested in contracts worth up to $7 billion for work on its oilfields, according to PDO's website.

PDO is Oman's largest oil producer and an affiliate of Royal Dutch Shell. It pumped 633,000 barrels per day of Oman's crude and condensate output of 757,000 bpd in 2008.

The Gulf Arab state is a small independent producer, but its crude oil forms part of the benchmark price for around 12 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude exports from Middle East producers to Asia.