OMAN - The Sultanate - The Middle East Non-OPEC Decision Makers - Part 2.

Oman's ruler, Sultan Qaboos Bin Said, has over the past decades followed a unique approach energy diplomacy, which has given the sultanate an image as a responsible and pragmatic member of the oil world. He has nurtured a cadre of officials, in energy as well as in other sectors, who have a

Decision making for the hydrocarbon sector in Oman involves a small number of men under Sultan Qaboos, the country's absolute but very popular ruler. The man directly in charge of the hydrocarbon sector is the Minister of Petroleum and Gas, Mohammed Al Romhi, who took this post in December 1997 succeeding Said Al Shanfari. In parallel, there are two powerful men in charge of many things on which investment in Oman's oil and gas depends: the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Maqbool Bin Ali Bin Sultan, who is chairman of Oman Oil Company (OOC), with Malik Al Adawi being OOC's president and CEO; and the Minister of Economy, Finance and Development, Ahmad Bin Abdel Nabi Makki (see profiles on following pages).

The positions of these and other decision makers for the sector reflect the personality of Sultan Qaboos, who combines liberal and conservative tendencies but is a pragmatic man. Some observers view him as the most brilliant ruler in the Arab World today. His approach to things can be seen from the fact that Qaboos stayed out of both OPEC and OAPEC, because he does not believe they are worth joining in view of membership costs involved. But Oman is a founding member of a loose organisation for independent oil producers (IPEC), created in 1987 as a lobby in which there is no membership cost. A key member of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC), Oman has managed to revive IPEC's role in co-operating with OPEC to defend crude oil prices.