Like many Middle Eastern countries in the catastrophic aftermath of Saudi Arabia’s latest oil price war folly against the U.S. shale sector, Oman has been left in the position of having to decide whether to risk becoming a client state of China or to attempt to extricate itself from the financial hole that the Saudis dug for it on its own. Although Oman has engaged with China recently on a number of levels, it has also sought to develop its own new streams of income and to lessen its overall cost base. The announcements last week that the Sultanate has completed its flagship Rabab Harweel Integrated Project and also that it has brought its first utility-scale solar power project online confirm its efforts to survive through its own initiatives but a third announcement that the state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) is in advanced talks to buy a 10 […]