Oman to keep land borders shut until 1 February

Oman announced today it will keep its land borders closed for an additional week to curb the spread of more infectious Covid-19 strains in the sultanate.

Oman's ministry of interior said the land borders will remain closed until 18:00 local time on 1 February. The closure initially came into effect on 18 January and was set to last one week, but the authorities warned of possible extensions.

Extended closure of land borders may have a minor impact on transport fuel demand in the country. Oman had previously closed all of its air, land and sea borders for one week in mid-December when the new Covid-19 strains emerged. In December Oman's domestic gasoil demand fell by 3pc to 35,500 b/d, compared with November, according to the latest data from Oman's National Centre of Statistics and Information. But domestic gasoline demand remained at 59,500 b/d in December, unchanged from November.

Oman continued to report an average of 170 new Covid-19 cases daily since the start of December, down from 308 cases in November and 510 in October. But the Covid-19 situation in the neighboring countries has worsened. The UAE registered an average of 3,510 daily Covid-19 cases last week, from 3,158 the week before. Saudi Arabia also reported on average 205 new Covid-19 cases last week, up from 152 cases the week before.

By Ieva Paldaviciute