Oman state-run oil firm OQ will make initial public offering and potentially seek billions

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — An Omani state-run oil and gas company announced Monday it will make an initial public offering of its exploration and production business, potentially seeking billions in a major move toward privatization in the sultanate.

OQ, formerly known as the Oman Oil Co., follows moves by the Saudi oil giant Aramco and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. to seek to raise money through the markets. It also could provide a boost for its local Muscat Stock Exchange, long viewed as being the sleepiest among the Gulf Arab states.

OQ will offer up to 25% of shares in its exploration and production arm, the announcement said. It offered no proposed values for the deal, though Bloomberg quoted anonymous officials with knowledge of the deal suggesting the company could be worth an overall $8 billion, making the stake being put up worth some $2 billion.

“The intention to float OQ Exploration and Production reflects our commitment to unlocking new opportunities for growth, both for the company and for the sultanate of Oman,” OQ CEO Ashraf Hamed Al Mamari said in a statement.

The plan calls for the listing to take place in October, pending regulatory approvals. It plans dividends of $150 million for the first two quarters after that, with a planned dividend of $600 million annually, plus one linked to its performance.

OQ was founded in 2009 and is Oman’s third-largest firm in the oil industry, following the state-owned Petroleum Development Oman and U.S. firm Occidental Petroleum.

Oman, on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, is a member of the OPEC+ coalition, though not a member of the cartel itself. It produces around 1 million barrels of oil a day and China remains the top client for its crude.

Oman’s late Sultan Qaboos bin Said used oil revenues to modernize a nation that was home to only three schools and harsh laws banning electricity, radios, eyeglasses and even umbrellas when he took power in 1970 coup. He died in January 2020. His successor, Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, has sought to shore up the sultanate’s finances while maintaining its positions as a key interlocutor between Iran and the West.