Taking energy forward in Oman

Taking energy forward in Oman

September 3, 2025

The Baker Hughes team is driving production growth goals while balancing net-zero ambitions and the development of Oman's future leaders.

The Sultanate of Oman is in a sweet spot both geographically and strategically for energy expansion. As Oman's energy production landscape evolves, the local Baker Hughes team is busy on the ground. They are building local capability, fostering knowledge exchange and helping the country to lead long-term energy sustainability within its borders and beyond.

''Oman is one of our key growth markets where we have strategically transformed our presence over the past 18 months. By expanding our operational footprint and service offerings, we are positioning Baker Hughes as a value-added partner to Oman, fully aligned with the nation's energy vision and optimization priorities," says Asal Nabili, Managing Director, South Gulf geozone for the Oilfield Services & Equipment (OFSE) business segment of Baker Hughes.

Asal Nabili, Baker Hughes, in Oman

In January 2025, Oman's Ministry of Energy and Minerals unveiled the Sultanate's vision for a greener future and the policy to underpin it. Oman is targeting 90-100% of electricity generation from renewable sources and net-zero emissions by 2050.The energy transition requires new investment, infrastructure and regulations and Oman is playing an important geopolitical roleto support global efforts towards net-zero.

"Baker Hughes has historically had a very strong footprint in Oman," says Nabili. "We're working in alignment with both Oman's ministry and its operating companies to drive efficiency across operations as well as helping them to enable a sustainable energy transition. Oman Vision 2040 includes major initiatives around green hydrogen production and LNG exports for example."

In the meantime, the past year has seen a significant activity uplift for the local team. "We have a very strong presence across all of the different technologies and services in our portfolio," says Nabili. Here are some highlights.

A new lab is a critical cog

Late last year, Baker Hughes inaugurated a state-of-the-art laboratory for drilling and completion fluids in Muscat, home to the company's headquarters in Oman. The new lab is part of the company's global lab network, joining others in Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Houston and strengthening the ability to deliver customers precise, tailored analysis of drilling and completion fluids.

"This lab is part of our broader strategy to deliver differentiated technologies and solutions that directly address Oman's production challenges. It strengthens our integrated offerings, supports local talent development, and positions us as a long-term partner delivering value well beyond traditional services," says Nabili.

The Baker Hughes team at an industry event in Oman

Back to basics - with new tech

After a decade-long absence from the cementing market in Oman, the Baker Hughes team completed their first well in January 2025. "When we were awarded a major cementing contract in 2024, it represented much more than a re-entry into the market for us," says Nabili. "It was also an opportunity for us to bring in more innovative technologies and energy-efficiency drivers to help Oman on its mission to net zero."

The first cementing program was ahead of scheduleand the team's calculations were accurate.

"This program reflects how we are bringing the best of Baker Hughes' global technologies and practices into Oman to deliver efficiency, sustainability, and new digital integrated solutions. It demonstrates how we are working hand-in-hand with the Ministry and our customers to deliver on Oman Vision 2040 and accelerate the nation's production optimization journey," says Nabili.

"As Oman looks to expand production over the next 10 to 20 years, we are committed to being a strategic partner by offering world-class integrated solutions- from mature field optimization to new technology deployment. This is how we are driving sustainable growth together with the Sultanate," says Nabili.

Asal Nabili (third left) with colleagues from Baker Hughes and customers in Oman

An enviable HSE milestone

Concentric coiled tubingis a key integrated well services offering and the Baker Hughes team working with Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) hit a standout milestone this year. This technology optimizes cleanouts of ultralow-pressure reservoirs and is particularly useful in heavy-oil and sand-producing wells.

"Health, safety and environment is one of our top priorities across our own operations and in all work with our partners," says Nabili. "We have been fortunate to partner with PDO and provide them with coiled tubing services in Oman over 19 continuous years. Successfully operating 19 years LTI free - lost time incident- is an enormous key achievement, not just for Baker Hughes but also for Oman."

It takes ongoing work across all the teams to build and maintain such a high safety culture. "We've expanded the safety training for all employees," says Nabili. "While a strong leadership presence around HSE is vital, what matters even more is that ownership of HSE behaviors resides with every single employee. They all see themselves as accountable to drive health and safety measures at work. We had a celebration in the field at PDO to recognize the milestone and the operator asked employees what they thought was the main driver of this success. They said it was because they're not just responsible for their own safety but that of everyone around them. This is the robust safety culture that we have been driving across Baker Hughes for decades. It's embedded in all our systems."

Thinking outside the box

Workplace routines can become so embedded that opportunities to apply a small tweak for big results can sometimes be hard to recognize.

The Baker Hughes drilling team in Oman had their eyes peeled for opportunities to drive sustainability when they hit on a practical initiative that delivered real impact: recycle the plastic boxes used in drilling operations. Previously, those boxes had gone to landfill.

"We have been working for several years with OPAL, the Oman Energy Association, a non-profit business society which is an initiative in the Sultanate working to implement and celebrate best practices around sustainability and safety," says Nabili. "A few of the younger Omani talents in our company came up with the idea after reviewing the use of plastic boxes to transport drill bits for our drilling operations. They suggested that instead of wasting them, we locally source the plastic boxes and reuse them all within Oman - not only have they reduced the footprint of those plastics, but they have also minimized the transportation and reduced costs. It was a very innovative way to achieve circularity."

The team submitted the initiative for the OPAL Sustainable Energy Award for Best Practices along with more than 240 submissions from 52 different companies. "We were very privileged to have our team recognized with the award," says Nabili.

Asal Nabili (center) Baker Hughes, with colleagues in Oman

Managing water for sustainable production

Baker Hughes continues to work closely with the Ministry of Energy and Minerals of Oman and recently co-hosted the Oman Advanced Water Management Workshop in Muscat, under the patronage of the ministry's undersecretary H.E. Mohsin Hamed Saif Al Hadhrami, a visionary leader who began his career as an exploration geophysicist at PDO. As Oman's production landscape evolves, effective water management is a strategic imperative.

"We had more than 250 participants attend the workshop, including around 70 senior leaders from Oman's energy and mining sector," says Nabili. "It was a platform to highlight the importance of sustainable water management in oil and gas operations and our experts showcased technologies tailored to Oman's unique reservoir challenges. These included enhancing sweep efficiency, reducing water handling costs and emissions, and converting water into power. We had sessions on subsurface technologies, AI-driven efficiencies, treatment and inspection, and water-to-power innovations, fostering cross-operator collaboration and knowledge exchange."

The most precious resource of all

"We are very embedded into the community in Oman and its people," says Nabili. "We are focused on developing Omani talents and elevating our operations in Oman. Localization is very important and is at the center of many of our key activities."

Nabili explains that the company is working closely with non-profit organizations, universities and customers to broaden local training, even beyond the 350 and growing employees of Baker Hughes, who are mostly Omanis.

"We are bringing world-class technical and leadership training targeted towards oil and gas to help develop local leaders," says Nabili. "Across our facilities in Oman, we have been progressively looking into how we can drive further localization and enablement of the local partners and customers.

It's an approach that is helping to advance the energy transition. "We have always been aligned with the overall vision of Oman," says Nabili. "Now we are looking to the future, partnering with the minister and key operators. We are embedding our experts with them to share with them what we see around the globe and specifically in this region to help them to make more strategic decisions as they're defining the future path."

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