Fahud is the first ever place where an oil company in Oman expored for oil. Result, a dry well,...
Many years later, this oil company came back, drilled few meters away from the previous well, and struck oil.
This company, Petroleum Development Oman, is basically owned by Government of Oman, but Shell, and its associates have 40 per cent share in it.
Fahud is now a big town, with an airport, oil installations, hotels and hundres of camps of contrctors who support the exploration , production and transportation of oil to Muscat, which is some 300 kilometers away.
There is good tarred road, that runs from Muscat to Salalah, and this passes via, Nizwa to Fahud.
There are two huge settlements called PAC (permanent accommodation , contractors). These are like hotels, and contractors accommodate their staff in these settlements. These. two PAC are side by side, and in a centre point there is a hug mosque ( masjid).
There are shops that sell provisions, vegetables, fruits, SIM (phone thing) and phone cards, plus, two money exchanges. One could use ATM machines, draw money and send money home to any one all over the world using the services of Money Exchanges. These exchanges give you Western Union Services as well.
There are restaurents, sellers of electronic gadgets, clothes.
Here in Fahud, this is a all men community, and all oil staff are men. This is a no woman, no women place.
Transport. There is a flight, and this is used by staff of Petroleum Development Oman mostly. Staff of contractors workers also use this. No ticket could be bought, booking is done through company channels only, and contractors as well as PDO (Petroleum Deveopment Oman) are charged through the PDO accounting system.
Every morning there is a bus that runs to Muscat, that is what, most of the workers use.
You get to eat, good Omani, European and Indian meals in the PAC, suit workers here. After nationals of Oman, it is Indians who constitute most of the oil field workers here.
Mobile phone transmission towers are there, and you can show your passport or labour card and buy phone SIMS.
Phone usinng internet is possible, full time residents, all have this facility to make cheap calls home.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Job in the desert (Banking matters) How to open an account
Opening a bank account in Oman is necessary act if you are employed in the desert.
How to open a bank account.
One thing is that, do it when you are in Muscat, before leaving for the desert location. To open a bank account you will need your passport and resident card. No need of a photograph. The bank will scan the passport and resident card, and that data is the stuff used as photograph.
Fill in the form, show the passport, and residence card originals. the bank will scan them, and load it into their electronic data base, Mostly they will give you an ATM card right away.
Can you open an account with zero balance, yes. As an expatriate, you are not having Omani money with you now, and the bank knows it. For dealing with any bank you will need a cell phone number and local phone number.
For local cell phone / mobile phone / gsm connection all you need is your passport and photograph, plus 3 Omani Rials. (bring your own mobile phone) . Shops all over, will accept these documents, scan them and send it to service provider. A sim card is given across the counter. It might take 24 hours to get the sim card activated.
Back to bank. The bank will communicate with text messages ( sms for many). They will alert you when the account is activated, or , even better, your salary is credited, or when any other transaction is done.
Dont forget, you get your pin the same day with the ATM card.
In the case of Bank Muscat, they issue a Debit card to you after one week.
If you are working in Nimr, the nearest point for banking is Marmul, that is 100 kms away.
Once the job is done, people residing in Nimr can use an ATM at Nimr, inside office of Oman Global Money Exchange. Asian workers come here to draw money and send telex transfers to their home countries.
You can use service of Western Union from the shop.
The Banks dont work on Fridays and Saturdays. They are open on Sundays. This is perhaps now changed.
The exchanges are expensive. once I send 100 Rials to T &T (Trinidad and Tobago). The transaction cost is , or was 10 Rials. One Omani Rial is fixed to US Dollar, one Rial makes 2.58 USD.
It is cheap to send money to Asian Countires, like India, Pakistan, Srilanka and Bangaladesh, some thing like 3 Rials or less for telegraphic transfer.
Business is monopoly, and service poor in the interior locations.
Money exchanges in Nimr and Fahud, offer better rates, even if there is no competition in the dessert.
How to open a bank account.
One thing is that, do it when you are in Muscat, before leaving for the desert location. To open a bank account you will need your passport and resident card. No need of a photograph. The bank will scan the passport and resident card, and that data is the stuff used as photograph.
Fill in the form, show the passport, and residence card originals. the bank will scan them, and load it into their electronic data base, Mostly they will give you an ATM card right away.
Can you open an account with zero balance, yes. As an expatriate, you are not having Omani money with you now, and the bank knows it. For dealing with any bank you will need a cell phone number and local phone number.
For local cell phone / mobile phone / gsm connection all you need is your passport and photograph, plus 3 Omani Rials. (bring your own mobile phone) . Shops all over, will accept these documents, scan them and send it to service provider. A sim card is given across the counter. It might take 24 hours to get the sim card activated.
Back to bank. The bank will communicate with text messages ( sms for many). They will alert you when the account is activated, or , even better, your salary is credited, or when any other transaction is done.
Dont forget, you get your pin the same day with the ATM card.
In the case of Bank Muscat, they issue a Debit card to you after one week.
If you are working in Nimr, the nearest point for banking is Marmul, that is 100 kms away.
Once the job is done, people residing in Nimr can use an ATM at Nimr, inside office of Oman Global Money Exchange. Asian workers come here to draw money and send telex transfers to their home countries.
You can use service of Western Union from the shop.
The Banks dont work on Fridays and Saturdays. They are open on Sundays. This is perhaps now changed.
The exchanges are expensive. once I send 100 Rials to T &T (Trinidad and Tobago). The transaction cost is , or was 10 Rials. One Omani Rial is fixed to US Dollar, one Rial makes 2.58 USD.
It is cheap to send money to Asian Countires, like India, Pakistan, Srilanka and Bangaladesh, some thing like 3 Rials or less for telegraphic transfer.
Business is monopoly, and service poor in the interior locations.
Money exchanges in Nimr and Fahud, offer better rates, even if there is no competition in the dessert.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Ramadhan the Holy Month in this Desert
Ramadhan is the month in which Holy Quran was revealed, so it is also for fasting and staying cleaner and for fasting. Muslins fast from dawn to dusk, but they do eat during the night.
I am writing this from a desert camp for Oil Industry Workers. Most workers are Muslim, so there is no public eating and drinking by non-muslins.
Though a desert, there are plenty of hungry people who long for food differnt from routine, so there are two eateries here, both run by expats. one is run by a Pakistani and the other by an Indian.
Outside the Paki restaurant, some left over food was found by a wandering camel, it stretched its neck and stared munching. That was an interesting view.
Today the 9th Sept 2010, may be the Ramadhan will come to an end today. All depends on sighting of moon at 7pm this day.
I am writing this from a desert camp for Oil Industry Workers. Most workers are Muslim, so there is no public eating and drinking by non-muslins.
Though a desert, there are plenty of hungry people who long for food differnt from routine, so there are two eateries here, both run by expats. one is run by a Pakistani and the other by an Indian.
Outside the Paki restaurant, some left over food was found by a wandering camel, it stretched its neck and stared munching. That was an interesting view.
Today the 9th Sept 2010, may be the Ramadhan will come to an end today. All depends on sighting of moon at 7pm this day.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Sai Rawl
It is a real desert location. Probably , again named by Julian Paxton of Petroleum Development Oman.
Sandy place with dust winds make it typically unloveable. Who said so,?? I met few who had been living here for last 8 years. These guys in the oil fields stay in the desert location, for 14 days and then go home. If you an expatriate, it is 5 on 5 off, 5 stands for 5 weeks, not days.
I drove in here from Nimr, which is closesr to Salalah than Muscat. Well, once again, Muscat is the Capital of Oman, while Salalah is an important region in this country, at the southern tip.
Sandy place with dust winds make it typically unloveable. Who said so,?? I met few who had been living here for last 8 years. These guys in the oil fields stay in the desert location, for 14 days and then go home. If you an expatriate, it is 5 on 5 off, 5 stands for 5 weeks, not days.
I drove in here from Nimr, which is closesr to Salalah than Muscat. Well, once again, Muscat is the Capital of Oman, while Salalah is an important region in this country, at the southern tip.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Nimr of Petroleum Development Oman
Monday, May 17, 2010
How is it in a desert oil field in Nimr Oman
When Petroleum Development Oman, a joint venture between Shell Oil and Partners, plus the Government of Sultanate of Oman found oil in the Southern Part of Omani Concession area, Mr.Julian Paxton, their Arabic translator and head of Public Affairs, suggested a name, Nimr, meaning Tiger.So this territory, or field which was found economical to drill, a brand new town ship was build in the desert with wide roads, permanent accommodation, contractor camps, and later one air strip.If you happened to be interested in seeing the place, right now, there are no direct airflights to NimrThere are two hotels in Nimr called PAC. That is for Private Accommodation Contractors. If you are going there just for few hours, and want to pray, there is huge masjid open for public and that is courtesy PDO.There is no precise head count of people in the desert, they are mostly, contractors , subcontractors and few floatsam guys who come to deliver goods and servies on call off arrangement.Food.All permanent residents have free food supply by their employers. There are two or three restaurants run by Malayalee Indians, customers are plenty, people who are bored with camp mess food come to eat fish curry, rice and chicken rice biriyani, dosa, puttu kadala, cassava with sardine and so on.Messes in the contractors camp serve some what quality food, with soups, salads, main dish, rice, chapathi, porotta, fish and meat curries, friend chicken, fruits and deserts.There is no bank in this place, however there is OMAN UAE Exchange, where you could receive and send money, - they also entertain Western Union transactions.There is an ATM machine, most bank cards would work on it. That is a busy place.There are two shops selling few electronic goods, TVs, gsm phones even phone cards.No facility to get a new sim card for mobile phones, no optians, no hospital. Just one doctor appointed by a hotel, with whom there is a call off arrangement by contractors. This place is 750 kms from Muscat and a vehicle would take you there in 8 and half hours.Oil company has its own chartered flights, which land in Marmul, 90 kms away from Nimr.To use the service you need be an employee of the PDO or contractor, flights normally take a halt at Fahud (25 minutes flying time to Fahud) and then on about 1 hour ten minutes flight to Marumul.Several buses plying from Salalah in the South to Muscat in North pass through Nimr, bus fare from Nimr to Muscat is 5.5 Omani Rials ( X 2.58 US Dollars for conversion)
How is it in a desert oil field in Nimr Oman
When Petroleum Development Oman, a joint venture between Shell Oil and Partners, plus the Government of Sultanate of Oman found oil in the Southern Part of Omani Concession area, Mr.Julian Paxton, their Arabic translator and head of Public Affairs, suggested a name, Nimr, meaning Tiger.So this territory, or field which was found economical to drill, a brand new town ship was build in the desert with wide roads, permanent accommodation, contractor camps, and later one air strip.If you happened to be interested in seeing the place, right now, there are no direct airflights to NimrThere are two hotels in Nimr called PAC. That is for Private Accommodation Contractors. If you are going there just for few hours, and want to pray, there is huge masjid open for public and that is courtesy PDO.There is no precise head count of people in the desert, they are mostly, contractors , subcontractors and few floatsam guys who come to deliver goods and servies on call off arrangement.Food.All permanent residents have free food supply by their employers. There are two or three restaurants run by Malayalee Indians, customers are plenty, people who are bored with camp mess food come to eat fish curry, rice and chicken rice biriyani, dosa, puttu kadala, cassava with sardine and so on.Messes in the contractors camp serve some what quality food, with soups, salads, main dish, rice, chapathi, porotta, fish and meat curries, friend chicken, fruits and deserts.There is no bank in this place, however there is OMAN UAE Exchange, where you could receive and send money, - they also entertain Western Union transactions.There is an ATM machine, most bank cards would work on it. That is a busy place.There are two shops selling few electronic goods, TVs, gsm phones even phone cards.No facility to get a new sim card for mobile phones, no optians, no hospital. Just one doctor appointed by a hotel, with whom there is a call off arrangement by contractors. This place is 750 kms from Muscat and a vehicle would take you there in 8 and half hours.Oil company has its own chartered flights, which land in Marmul, 90 kms away from Nimr.To use the service you need be an employee of the PDO or contractor, flights normally take a halt at Fahud (25 minutes flying time to Fahud) and then on about 1 hour ten minutes flight to Marumul.Several buses plying from Salalah in the South to Muscat in North pass through Nimr, bus fare from Nimr to Muscat is 5.5 Omani Rials ( X 2.58 US Dollars for conversion)
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