MUSCAT, Oman, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- The government in Oman announced British energy company BP was planning to build a natural gas processing facility.
Omani Undersecretary for Oil and Gas Nasser bin Khamis al-Jashmi announced the deal on the sidelines of an annual oil and natural gas conference in Muscat.
He said BP may be able to process as much as 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day from the processing facility.
"However, we are dealing with a lot of unknown factors here," he was quoted Sunday as saying by the Times of Oman. "But based on the current information we have, this would be the expected production from the fields."
Jashmi said BP has drilled 11 appraisal wells in the area. The Times of Oman said the company aims to invest more than $20 billion in the first phase of development in the country's block 61 natural gas area.
The first phase of the development is expected to give up 6.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. First gas deliveries are expected by 2017.