A study of the patterns of production and consumption of crude oil and petroleum products in the Sultanate of Oman

The patterns of production and consumption of crude oil and petroleum products in the Sultanate of Oman over the period of 1970 - 2000 are studied in this article. A graphical description of the patterns is first presented. Simple and more sophisticated econometric models are then employed to empirically examine the relationships between petroleum-related variables and other macroeconomic variables. The analysis shows many interesting features of the behavior of crude oil and petroleum products in the Sultanate of Oman, including the following: crude oil production remained relatively stagnant until the early 1980s, but started to rise more rapidly since then. The pattern of consumption of petroleum products in the year 2000 showed a very marked difference from the consumption patterns of 1970s. Gasoline consumption grew very rapidly in the Sultanate of Oman, with a high compound annual growth rate of nearly 13%. The consumption of Regular90 variety was relatively stagnant compared to the rapid increase in the consumption of Super97 variety. The vehicular population grew at a high rate of nearly 12% per annum during the last few decades. The empirical econometric analysis has shown that the gross domestic product (GDP) and crude oil prices of the current as well as the previous year have been significant variables influencing crude oil production of any given year. The GDP is strongly related to crude oil exports, total petroleum consumption, and gasoline consumption. However, prices are not highly significant. Crude production is highly correlated to natural gas production.