Remained until the seventies of the century. XX practically on the edge of the modern world economy, Oman has experienced significant development through the exploitation of oil, extracted since 1967 on behalf of the national company Petroleum Development Oman Co. The economy is therefore dominated by crude oil, whose production however began to decline since 2001, and natural gas, whose exploitation, on the contrary, is expanding. Since the 1980s, the income from oil production has allowed investment in other sectors and sectors. Initially, the state’s commitment took the form of agricultural infrastructure works (dams and irrigation systems) and the strengthening of light industry. Subsequent plans made it possible to increase spending on services and the non-oil industry. The country has managed to achieve a constant increase in the gross domestic product per capita, which amounted to US $ 18,988 in 2008, however the lowest in the area, registering, in the same year, a GDP of nearly US $ 36 billion. The thriving economy of the sultanate, which has often suffered both from regional tensions, as in the case of the Gulf War, and from the cyclical fluctuations in oil prices on international markets, undergoing numerous periods of crisis. The economic plans have therefore also focused on privatization and the resumption of investments from abroad, even if the new rise in oil prices in the early 2000s has partly decelerated this renewal phase and caused an increase in inflation. The authorities are however oriented towards the expansion of the other sectors, in particular the tertiary sector (services, tourism and new technologies), also through privatization (energy, water, services, telecommunications) and opening up to foreign investments, favored by the signing of free trade agreements with other countries.
Across the Gulf Cooperation Council Oman has commercial relations with the European Union, China and Japan. § The agricultural sector contributes modestly to the formation of the GDP and is mainly of a subsistence nature. Date palms, cereals (sorghum, millet, barley), vegetables (tomatoes) and tobacco are grown in the oases; fruit growing also has ancient traditions, especially the cultivation of citrus fruits and, later on, bananas; cotton and sugar cane, on the other hand, find a certain space in the Dhufar. § The breeding of sheep and goats, of cattle, present in the Dhufar, and of camels is particularly cared for. § However, fishing is of greater importance, especially sardines, which constitute the main economic resource for many coastal people and which are also largely exported. In the last decade of the century. XX benefited from the expansion of the fleet and the construction of a plant for the conservation and freezing of fish, while on the other hand forms of pollution have become more perceptible, linked in particular to oil activities. Pearl oysters are still harvested by very ancient custom. § The industrial activity is centered on the exploitation of hydrocarbons but there is no lack of other manufacturing companies; in addition, lively craftsmanship thrives. The discovery of oil has led to a series of fundamental transformations in the secondary sector, which now contributes to nearly two-thirds of GDP. Other mineral resources are gold, silver, chromite and copper, which feed the metallurgical plants of Ṣuḥār. There are also active industries for the processing of construction materials and cement (Raysut, in the far south, and Rusail, north of Muscat), chemical products, optical fibers and textiles, as well as oil refining and processing plants. production of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
New projects concern the production of fertilizers, aluminum and steel. § With the proceeds of the royalties on oil have been especially strengthened in social services, schools and hospitals in the first place, as well as road and communications infrastructures in general. The road system, considerably increased, makes use above all of the expressway, completed in 1977, which connects Muscat with the neighboring emirate of Dubai; the other main arteries connect Maṭraḥ with the oasis of Nazwá and the city of Ṣalālah with Raysut, in Dhufar. As one of countries starting with O according to Countryaah, Oman has the international airports of Seeb near Muscat and Ṣalālah (the national airline is Oman Air), as well as numerous ports such as those of Ṣalālah and Qabus, near Maṭraḥ, to which the terminal is added.al Fahal oil plant, connected by pipeline to the main oil fields. International trade, more than tenfold in a few years, is based on the export of oil and liquefied natural gas; for the rest, the country exports dates, citrus fruits, fish, chemicals and metals. Imports are mainly represented by machinery and means of transport, various industrial products, foodstuffs. The trade balance is largely active; the most intense exchanges take place, as regards exports, with China, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates, while, as regards imports, above all the Arab Emirates United and Japan.
