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Saturday March 10 9:08 AM ET Oman Discovers Major Gas Field

MUSCAT (Reuters) - The Gulf Arab state of Oman said on Saturday it had discovered a new and major gas field in the al-Dakhlia region expected to boost its reserves.

Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) said in a statement sent to Reuters the discovery was made 31 miles south of the town of Adam.

``The Kauther field is potentially the largest gas field discovered in Oman in the last six years. This success provides encouragement for further gas exploration in the area,'' the statement said.

A PDO spokesman told Reuters it was too early to determine the capacity of the field but tests showed that the size of the gas discovered was expected to significantly boost the reserves.

``We will know in three months how big is the field but we are confident it will have a substantial amount of gas to increase the reserves,'' he said.

Officials said earlier that Oman's proven gas reserves stand at 22 trillion cubic feet, with potential reserves more than double that figure.

According to official statistics, Oman gas demand in 2000 was 28 million cubic meters per day (cmd) and is expected to increase to 70 million cmd in 2005.

Oman, an independent oil producer, currently pumps around 900,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil. Oil and gas revenues make up about 70 percent of its national income.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), March 10, 2001