In 2006, Oman conveyed about 740,000 barrels of oil per day. Oman’s oil is of medium quality, because it contains unwanted sulphur and is contaminated with aromatic hydrocarbonates, such as Benzpirins and Benzols.

The oil is located in extreme depths, around 500 meters. It is highly viscous and water comes up with the oil. The water is heated and pumped down again to dissolve the viscose oil. It cannot be used for irrigation purposes because it is polluted.

An oil field is a region with a large quantity of oil wells extracting oil from beneath the ground. Because the oil reservoirs typically extend over a large area (possibly several hundred kilometres across) full exploitation requires multiple wells scattered across the area. In addition, there may be exploratory wells probing the edges, pipelines to transport the oil elsewhere, and support facilities.

The typical oil field looks like a small self-contained city in the centre of a landscape dotted with drilling rigs and "nodding donkeys" - that is what the pump jacks are called because of their bobbing arm.

To read more, please download the full report by Peter Wolanski.

Continue to "Wadi Hinna".

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