The average PDO daily oil production for2014 was 570,534 (bpd), well above the existing plateau target of 550,000 bpd,and represents PDO's highest oil production since 2006.

In addition, the combined average PDOproduction (oil, gas and condensate) stood at 1.231 million barrels of oilequivalent per day (boepd) last year, the third highest in the Company'shistory.

Announcing the 2014 performance, ManagingDirector Raoul Restucci said: "Despite the challenging price environment,we maintain our profitable growth plans and we intend to stay the course with acontinued focus on business improvement and sustainability.

"Our well engineering and projectactivity levels continue to grow and we are pursuing early monetisation of prospectswhere possible. We are confident in our programmed and we must seize theopportunity from the significant oil price decline, enabling increased costsaving opportunities and more collaborative ways of working.

"PDO is a reliable supplier and we intendto get even better and more efficient at exploring and extracting thehydrocarbons which power Oman and meet our shareholders expectations.

"In the past five years, we have added700 million barrels to our production profile despite working in some of themost testing conditions in the oil and gas industry."

PDO revealed a significant 8% increase inStock Tank Oil Initially in Place (STOIIP) from 61.9 billion to 66.6 billionbarrels over 2014. This addition included the booking of two discoveries in theDhulia and Bribe A3C reservoirs, with a cumulative STOIIP of just over 613million barrels; the Exploration Directorate's largest booking in the last 20years. There was also a 16% increase in Gas Initially In Place (GIIP) to 75.4trillion cubic feet (Tcf), underpinned by new discoveries in Khulud West andMabrouk South.

On the East Flank of the Rima–Marmul field,PDO aims to further appraise, develop and produce a multitude of smaller oilprospects (with an estimated ultimate recovery of 200 million barrels).

All four of the prospects drilled in 2014,not only discovered oil, but three are already in production. Jointly withProduction, the Exploration Directorate is also accelerating oil appraisal anddevelopment of PDO's Upper Shuaiba project in the Lekhwair area with first oilplanned in 2017.

On the unconventional oil front, eightwells - including five horizontal – were drilled in the Natih-B resource play.Hydraulic fracturing and testing is progressing, with results expected in thesecond half of 2015.

PDO's Gas Exploration team continued todeliver and mature new gas resources with discoveries in the Khulud West,Mabrouk South and Tayseer prospects. Five gas exploration wells were completedand five were tested and hydraulically fracked. One of the main highlights wasthe ongoing successful fracturing campaign at the Khulud tight gas project, oneof the deepest tight gas developments in the world. Six wells have beensteadily producing through the Early Production System since January 2014.

The Company continues to build on itsenhanced oil recovery (EOR) programme, and alongside five ongoing commercialEOR projects, is currently operating two trials – Nimr polymer and Amal Weststeam, with the Marmul Alkaline Surfactant Polymer (ASP) pilot due to commenceoperations this summer.

In an environment of low global oil prices,PDO is making good progress in working very closely with its contractors toidentify savings and to work more efficiently together. The Company isprogressing with its Lean business improvement programme, with over 100projects across several value streams, alongside very active ContractOptimisation Reviews. Restucci commented: "Simply put, we are working tocreate more value through increased production, optimised expenditure phasingand company-wide cost saving initiatives."

The Company is also actively pursuing andaccelerating projects which can generate increased revenues, whilst maintainingits overarching focus on personal and process safety.

Mr Restucci added: "The fundamentalsof our business are robust and we are escalating our efforts to address greaterefficiency and reduce waste in all we do. We are working with our contractorsto identify sustainable opportunities for greater productivity, cost efficiencyand revenue enhancement opportunities."

During his presentation at the MediaBriefing, Mr Restucci also unveiled a string of PDO achievements andaspirations. This included the creation of 4,300 Omani job and trainingopportunities with its contractors in 2014 and the further generation of 7,000such opportunities in 2015 and beyond as the Company further ramps up itsIn-Country Value programme.

Social Investment remains a key focus forPDO, supporting communities across Oman through a wide range of initiatives. In2014 PDO unveiled its largest ever one-off social investment package with acommitment to spend more than RO 5.5 million on 12 separate projects. Examplesincluded the funding of Muscat's first drug rehabilitation centre and a newintensive care unit at Khoula Hospital.

Good progress was also made with PDO'ssocial enterprise Banat Oman project – a vocational training initiative tosupport low-income women with the skills they need for sustainable employment.To date over 200 women have been trained in a wide range of skills includingtailoring and embroidery, leather, silver and palm frond crafts as well asbaking and confectionery.

The products are now sold through a rangeof outlets across the Sultanate including shops and hotels and with new salesand marketing contracts recently established with the Lulu Hypermarket chainand Muscat Duty Free.   

Last year the Company also announced thatit would build the Sultanate's first aquarium to mark the 45th National Day in2015. This marks a long standing tradition of providing wonderful educationalfacilities for the Nation, which to-date have attracted more than one millionchildren, their families and other visitors from and beyond Oman.