Location: Middle East, bordering the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Oman, and Persian Gulf, between Yemen and UAEPopulation: 3,001,583. Note: includes 577,293 non-nationals (July 2005 est.)
Total Area: 212,460 sq km - slightly smaller than Kansas
Climate: dry desert; hot, humid along coast; hot, dry interior; strong southwest summer monsoon (May to September) in far south
Natural resources: petroleum, copper, asbestos, some marble, limestone, chromium, gypsum, natural gas
Environment - current issues: rising soil salinity; beach pollution from oil spills; very limited natural fresh water resources.
Environment - international agreements: party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Whaling. Signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements.
National holiday: Birthday of Sultan QABOOS, 18 November
Economy - brief overview: Oman is a middle-income economy in the Middle East with notable oil and gas resources, a substantial trade surplus, and low inflation. Work on a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility progressed in 2005 and will contribute to slightly higher oil and gas exports in 2006. Oman continues to liberalize its markets and joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in November 2000. To reduce unemployment and limit dependence on foreign labor, the government is encouraging the replacement of foreign expatriate workers with local workers, i.e., Omanization.
Budget: revenues: $14.36 billion. Expenditures: $10.61 billion, including capital expenditures of NA (2005 est.)
Labor force: 920,000
Agriculture - products: dates, limes, bananas, alfalfa, vegetables; camels, cattle; fish
Industries: crude oil production and refining, natural and liquefied natural gas (LNG) production, construction, cement, copper, steel, chemicals, optic fiberOil - production: 769,000 bbl/day (2005 est.)
Oil - imports: NA
Oil - exports: 721,000 bbl/day (2004)
Oil - proved reserves: 6.1 billion bbl (2005 est.)
Exports: $19.01 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)
Exports - partners: China 29.5%, South Korea 17.5%, Japan 11.5%, Thailand 10.6%, UAE 7.2% (2004)
Imports: $8.709 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)
Imports - partners: UAE 21.2%, Japan 16.6%, UK 8.4%, Italy 6%, Germany 5.1%, US 4.7% (2004)
Government departments:
Ministry of Information
Ministry of National Economy
Muscat Municipality
Media:
Welcome to Oman Daily Observer
Times of Oman
Oman News Agency (ONA)
Travel Information:
Oman Travel Information Lonely Planet Destination Guide
Other useful links:
Oman Information Center - oman,business directory
Central Bank of Oman
Royal Oman Police - Sultanate of Oman
Whale Coast Oman - whale and dolphin research and rescue team
News headlines
Oman Society for Contractors in the offing Oman Daily Observer
Sons of Oman, sole focus of their leader Times of Oman
Shell Oman Marketing plans 1:10 stock split Times of Oman
Oman, Yemen sign agreement for establishing businessmen council Kuwait News Agency
COCA delegation heads for Oman Yemen News Agency
Real-estate investments in Oman grows by 54% last year Middle East North Africa Financial Network
Previous articles in the series:
Albania Botswana Cayman Islands Djibouti Ecuador Fiji Georgia Honduras Iceland Jamaica Kyrgyzstan Liechtenstein Mauritania Norway
