Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) today (20 October) staged a workshop for Omani small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to raise their awareness of how they can do business with the Company.
Around 75 entrepreneurs from SMEs and Local Community Contractors (LCCs) – businesses owned by individuals or families within PDO’s Block 6 concession area – participated in the half-day event at the Company’s Learning and Development Centre at Mina Al Fahal.
The seminar included an overview of the oil and gas industry and topics such as PDO’s processes and procedures for vendor registration, contracting and procurement and tendering, and its stringent health, safety and environment (HSE) policies and practices and business ethics.
Delegates also learned more about PDO’s In-Country Value (ICV) strategy to retain more of the industry’s wealth in the Sultanate through greater Omanisation of the goods and services supplied to the oil and gas industry and more training and employment opportunities for Omani jobseekers.
During the workshop, experts from the Company’s ICV team shared a number of success stories where PDO had supported Omani businesses. For example, during 2014, more than 170 active LCCs benefitted from PDO contracts, providing services such as electrical, mechanical, civil engineering, logistics, manpower supply and equipment hiring.
PDO ICV Operations Manager Khalfan Salim Al Busaidy said: “PDO is an active champion of small and medium local businesses, providing support across a wide range of activities.
“The workshop showcased our continuous commitment to support government directives to provide support to SMEs so that they understand fully what is required if they want to work with us.
“There are some fantastic Omani SMEs which can begin or expand work in the oil and gas industry. PDO wants to fully unlock that potential but it is important that suppliers and vendors are made fully aware of the standards and specifications and rules and regulations which must be complied with.”
The awareness-raising workshop is the second of its kind at Mina Al Fahal this year and follows one held in April. PDO’s ICV team has also conducted other workshops in 2015 to enhance LCC business acumen and HSE, and highlight commercial opportunities, including at two of its main operational areas at Fahud and Marmul.
Additionally, another workshop on PDO’s tendering procedures was conducted in May 2015 to help Omani firms which had been unsuccessful in bidding for PDO business. The Company is planning to conduct another event for unsuccessful bidders on 10 November.