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Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) is the major exploration and production company in the Sultanate. It accounts for about 70% of the country's crude-oil production and nearly all of its natural-gas supply. The Company is owned by the Government of Oman (which has a 60% interest), the Shell Group (which has a 34% interest), Total (which has a 4% interest) and Partex (which has a 2% interest). Gas fields and processing plants are operated by PDO exclusively on behalf of the Government. ==Origins and history== A geological survey of the country in 1925 by the D'Arcy Exploration Company found no conclusive evidence of oil. Twelve years later, however, when geologists began intensively searching for oil in neighboring Saudi Arabia, Oman's Sultan Said bin Taimur granted a 75-year concession to the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC). Pausing only for the Second World War, exploration for oil was underway in Oman. The exploration and production operations were to be run on behalf of the IPC by Petroleum Development (Oman and Dhofar) Ltd. The operating company had four shareholders, each with an interest of 23.75%: the Royal Dutch/Shell Group, the Anglo-Persian Company (which would eventually become the British Petroleum Company, or BP), Compagnie Française des Pétroles (a predecessor of today’s Total) and the Near East Development Company (whose shareholders were Standard Oil of New Jersey and Socony-Vacuum, today’s ExxonMobil). The remaining 5% stake was held by a fifth shareholder, Partex, representing the interests of the oil magnate, Calouste Gulbenkian. Having landed at Duqm in February 1954, IPC geologists were faced with tribal conflicts which made access to the most promising oil prospect, Jebel Fahud, difficult. They reached the jebel in October 1954 and began to survey the surrounding terrain. Supplies had to be transported from Duqm. In January 1956 the company started drilling its first well at Fahud but the hardships were all in vain: the well was dry. Later, when the supply line was switched to the Sumail Gap, warring tribes were able to disrupt convoys and bring operations to a halt. Further dry wells were drilled and this lack of success, combined with worsening logistical problems and a glut of oil on the world market, led most of the partners to withdraw from the venture in 1960. Only Shell and Partex opted to remain in Oman to continue the search for oil. Their optimism was soon to pay off, however: they struck commercial oil at Yibal in April 1962〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=PDO's History )〕 — and from these inauspicious beginnings an oil-producing nation was born. In 1963 the Natih field was discovered, followed closely by success at Fahud, only a few hundred metres from the original IPC well. Investment in a pipeline to the coast and all the other hardware necessary to transport and export Oman's crude could now be made. A 276-kilometre pipeline requiring 60,000 tons of steel pipe was laid, the labour being provided by the inhabitants of whichever villages happened to be near the worksite. The pipe laying was followed closely by the construction of an industrial complex at Saih al Maleh (later renamed Mina al Fahal), the building of a tank farm, the installation of single-buoy moorings for seagoing tankers and the erection of a 20-megawatt power plant. The whole development — including the pipeline, the coastal industrial area, the tank farm, the marine terminal, a chain of radio repeater stations and housing for staff at Ras al Hamra — cost $70 million. The first export of Omani oil took place on 27 July 1967. The original debit note shows that the consignment consisted of of oil valued at $1.42 a barrel. A month before, in June, the Compagnie Française des Pétroles rejoined the partnership by taking over two-thirds of Partex's equity share, resulting in the following shareholding in the company that by then had changed its name to Petroleum Development (Oman): Shell 85%, Compagnie Francaise des Petroles 10% and Partex 5%. On 23 July 1970 His Majesty Sultan Qaboos took over from his father as ruler of the country. He made his first visit to the PD(O) offices on 18 August 1970. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Petroleum Development Oman」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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