Decree No. 8/2011 promulgating the Oil and Gas Law.

This Law consisting of 72 articles aims at providing for all petroleum substances (crude oil and natural gas), which are located on the territory of the Sultanate of Oman, or in the internal waters or territorial sea or exclusive economic zone or continental shelf. It establishes that (i) all minerals in situ are owned by the state; (ii) the rights to explore, prospect for, appraise, develop and exploit oil and gas are granted on the basis of a concession agreement, executed in the form of an exploration and production sharing agreement (EPSA); (iii) the Ministry of Oil and Gas (MOG) is the authorized authority, acting on behalf of the Government of the Sultanate of Oman, to negotiate and execute EPSAs with selected oil and gas exploration and production companies; and (iv) an EPSA can only take effect after a Sultani Decree approving it has been promulgated. The Law also (i) prohibits to import, export or transport of petroleum substances, store, distribute, manufacture, market or carry any other operations without a license from the Ministry of Oil and Gas; (ii) permits to universities, institutes and national research centers, after obtaining a Ministry permit, to conduct scientific research related to the petroleum activities, provided that they are obliged to submit the results and findings of their researches to the Ministry; (iii) prohibits to carryout any survey or exploration, discovery, development or exploitation of petroleum substances without the Concession Agreement whose details are indicated in arts.13-25; and (iv) prohibits to carry out operations covered by the Concession Agreement at a distance of less than 200 meters from the cities, villages and roads, archaeological sites, nature reserves and sites of natural protected areas, dams, springs, wells, restricted areas and any other facilities.
Environmental protections measures are provided for in art.39, such as (i) treatment of waste before disposal; (ii) precautions in case of possession, transportation, transfer or use of hazardous substances; (iii) protection of all ground layers containing fresh water and the common layer that contain water; (iv) sustainable use of fresh potable water for drinking or agriculture, except in cases of absolute necessity and after obtaining a permit from the competent authorities; (v) ban of re-injecting the water associated with oil in the ground without treatment; (vi) provisions in case of abandon or the close the dry oil or used wells; (vii) precautions to prevent the leakage of petroleum substances and pollution; (viii) controls on the environmental effects of explosions and accidents that may arise in the operational sites and the removal of waste products; and (ix) reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases in the Concession Area.