Gulf Energy and Whitepoint – Sultanate of Oman
Gulf Energy is a fast growing group of companies that deal with the business of oil, based in Oman, with activities in all the gulf countries.
Whitepoint is a consultancy company based in Oman that hired me to take a stock of photos for Gulf Energy for use in all marketing material.
Rob of Whitepoint picked me up late night Sunday 5th and took me to dinner Monday 6th and is pictured below.
The next couple of days were spent on HSE training courses for oil and H2S Gas.
I met some lovely guys there including Bruce (biker type) and Mat (teacher) below and the H2S Gas class.
On Tuesday Yousuf from Gulf Energy took me to lunch and then to the head office to meet the team.
Yousuf and I travelled together a lot and he was a fine companion and now friend.
After getting to meet some people at Gulf Energy I was already struck by the friendliness of everyone I met.
Oman is a truly original place with an easy going atmosphere.
I took the below shot from the window of head office.
Wednesday was spent at head office taking portraits of everyone there, close to 75 people.
I was very well looked after and people made an effort to wear their best clothing.
We had several hours on each floor and it was great fun getting to know everyone a little.
There was also a videography team doing test footage at the same time.
Mr Lava is pictured below and a slideshow of portraits appear below that.
That night Yousuf and I travelled west to the Fahud area where we visited various operations plants that supply goods to rigs in the desert.
We stayed at a good hotel for a couple of nights and explored the area.
Norman was the base manager at the Fahud base and it turns out he is from East Sussex too.
Small world.
Was made very welcome here and had good assistance going around the sight and a driver for the second day that took us to sights further afield.
Hover over pictures for a description
Once returning to Muscat and a quick portrait session at head office, we flew south to the Marmul area with Yousuf and the video team, then took the bus to Nimr.
This areas is all about oil and there is little there that doesn’t relate to it.
We stayed at a large complex housing 3000+ men that were working at various companies all throughout the area.
Incredible place. Pictured below is Zyeed, base manager of Nimr.
The gallery below that splits its time through three plants in the area, including cement works, well maintenance, and supply bases.
We spent three full days in Nimr and temperatures in winter were as high as 35 degrees.
People like the weather in the south, its more constant and not as hot as other areas.
One evening we hung around a bit to cover the sunset and got a couple of good shots below.
The second to last shot is of Mr Manush, the other half of the video team.
The last shot is of Yousuf and Shaban in the mess hall.
Shaban is working as a HSE consultant and coined the phrase The Triangle Life.
Out in the desert its work, your room, and the mess hall.
There are many mosques all over the country but below was my favorite shot from Muscat
Finally I leave you with a time-lapse taken on the last day at Al Nur field near Marmul before flying home on the 15th.
It might give you an insight to the incredible industry that is the oil business.
Whatever I say here will fall short of the reality.
Oman is a multicultural place with engineering that is more like art, with experience that covers the globe all working toward a common goal with human life the most precious commodity of all.
They really take their safety seriously.
It was humbling being there with professionals from India, Saudi Arabia, America, Canada, Africa, England and Oman, all working hard, all working safely.
I really did have the trip of a lifetime and hope you get a general impression from this blog.
I would highly recommend a visit with plenty to do for tourists in this as of yet unspoiled paradise.
