Oman's OOMCO has 16 fuel stations in Saudi Arabia, targets 50 units by 2026: Exec

Nasser Al Maawali, Oman Oil Marketing Co. (OOMCO) Country Manager in Saudi Arabia

Oman Oil Marketing Co. (OOMCO) operates 16 fuel stations in Saudi Arabia, with 10 more in the different construction phases that are likely to be completed by 2023-end, Nasser Al Maawali, Country Manager at KSA OOMCO, told Argaam.

With the completion of under-development stations, the total number will reach 26 in Saudi Arabia, distributed among the Western and Eastern regions, Al Maawali said.

He noted that the company is investing in lands and existing stations through establishing them as per high standards to provide a set of quality services.

OOMCO has a bullish outlook for the Saudi market, and the board of directors approved a rapid expansion plan that includes the remaining regions of Saudi Arabia. This is in a bid to bring the total number of fuel stations to 50 by 2026.

In addition, other plans were approved to offer motor oil products and other non-oil activities.

The expansion plan in Saudi Arabia began in 2018 with approximately SAR 100 million in capital. The first stations were operated in 2019, Al Maawali said.

He added that the capital is planned to increase in accordance with the company's aspirations and expansions.

The executive shed light on the efforts of Saudi government agencies to create a qualitative leap in the retail business sector (fuel stations) and upgrade it to align with the aspirations of Vision 2030. This, accordingly, allowed the Omani company and international peers to enter the Saudi market and compete with local companies amid the continued rapid development of the business sector.

Saudi Arabia is one of the major Arab markets in the fuel retail sector, given the population and economic structure. This is in addition to the purchasing power per capita and the Kingdom's wide space of land that requires relatively greater fuel consumption per capita in the Kingdom compared with the other GCC countries.

Al Maawali pointed out that the Saudi branch's contribution to the company's revenues is still insignificant, given that it is still new in the market. He expected OOMCO KSA to highly contribute to boosting the group's revenues.

The Omani company is a pioneer in the retail fuel sector. It was established in 2003 after the acquisition of UK's BP plc in Oman. It manages one of the largest networks of fuel stations in Oman, which includes more than 235 stations.