Higher than projected oil prices look likely to give Oman a budget surplus for 2024, 10 months of data suggest.

The country, which pumps about 1 million barrels of crude a day and depends in it for two thirds of its revenue, based its 2024 budget on a price of $60 a barrel. 

Last year, however, oil prices averaged above $70 per barrel.

Total government revenue edged up 4 percent in the 10 months to the end of October to nearly OR10.2 billion ($26.52 billion), from OR9.8 billion in the same period in 2023, Oman’s National Centre for Statistics and Information said.

Spending on capital projects rose almost 30 percent, to OR992million from OR770 million a year earlier. Spending on “supporting the social protection system” rose from nothing in 2023 to OR466 million in the first ten months of 2024, the data showed.

Though the surplus shrank by a third in 2024 compared with the first 10 months of 2023, Oman still posted a budget surplus of OR520 million for the period.

Oman’s oil production has declined over time and its reserves are running out. Its proven oil reserves of around 5 billion barrels are dwarfed by those of neighbouring UAE, at nearly 98 billion barrels. 

At current production rates, Oman’s reserves will run out by 2040, 15 years away, against nearly 100 years of reserves for the UAE.