Saturday 19 / September / 2026
Muscat: The high-level visits of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik to Botswana and Angola have opened new avenues for strengthening Oman’s economic and investment ties with African markets, particularly in the energy sector.
Ashraf bin Hamad Al Maamari, Chief Executive Officer of OQ, said the Royal visits provide strong momentum and confidence to economic relations, helping move cooperation from the exploration of opportunities towards the development of concrete partnerships and projects.
He said His Majesty’s visit to Angola represents an opportunity for OQ to expand its presence in African markets and explore commercially viable partnerships across the energy value chain, while promoting the exchange of expertise and capacity building.
Al Maamari noted that opportunities under evaluation in Angola include exploration and production, liquefied natural gas, fertilisers, ammonia and petrochemicals, as well as trading in petroleum products.
OQ has signed two memoranda of cooperation with the Angolan side. The first, with Sonangol, establishes a framework for assessing investment opportunities of mutual interest and exchanging technical and operational expertise across the energy value chain.
The second, signed by OQ Alternative Energy and Angola’s Ministry of Energy and Water, provides a framework for evaluating the development of a renewable energy project with a capacity of about 500 megawatts, together with a battery energy storage system.
Al Maamari said the agreements represent an important step in strengthening Oman-Angola cooperation and identifying economically viable projects that create sustainable value for both sides.
He added that cooperation with Angolan counterparts covers oil and gas, refining, petrochemicals, fertilisers, trading and renewable energy. OQ Alternative Energy is also exploring renewable energy projects with a combined capacity of up to 500 MW, including battery storage.
Regarding Botswana, he said the visit resulted in the signing of a memorandum of cooperation on energy security by O-Green. The company will seek to transmit energy generated from its projects in Botswana to neighbouring countries through a renewable energy plant currently under construction.
He said OQ’s integrated portfolio, spanning exploration and production, refining, petrochemicals, trading and alternative energy, enables the group to assess investment opportunities across the entire value chain and identify areas where Omani and African capabilities can complement each other.
OQ stressed that its international partnerships are based on economic feasibility, strategic alignment, knowledge transfer and capacity building, with the objective of developing commercially sustainable projects and expanding Oman’s presence in global markets.
The group already has a commercial presence in several African markets through its subsidiaries. The two memoranda signed with Angola build on that presence and provide a framework for exploring new investment opportunities and expanding OQ’s African portfolio.
