MUSCAT: Underscoring the exponential growth potential of Oman’s shrimp aquaculture industry, a key state-backed player is set to forge a mega-scale partnership with an international company in a deal valued at an estimated $1.6 billion.

Spearheading the initiative is Fisheries Development Oman (FDO), the fisheries sector investment arm of Oman Investment Authority (OIA), which oversees a growing portfolio of fisheries and aquaculture related projects in the Sultanate of Oman. Two of its subsidiaries, National Shrimp Aquaculture Co and Oriental Shrimp Aquaculture Co, currently operate shrimp farms in key locations around the country.

Earlier this week, parent company OIA announced that a major partnership deal is currently in the works. “Work is ongoing to create opportunities for investment in shrimp farming with a global company to enter into a USD 1.6 billion strategic partnership,” the integrated wealth fund stated in its 2023 Annual Report.

According to the report, farmed shrimp harvests by FDO subsidiaries more than doubled to 2,673 tonnes in 2023, up from 1,076 tonnes a year earlier. In other notable highlights of FDO’s 2023 performance, commercial fish catches of small and pelagic species totaled 44,762 tonnes, up from 42,555 tonnes in 2022. European sea bream fish production dipped to 1,867 tonnes, down from 2,101 tonnes a year earlier.

Last year, FDO owned Oriental Shrimp Aquaculture brought its modern shrimp farm project into operation at Khuwaimah in Jalan Bani Bu Ali. Spread over an area of 200 hectares, the facility has a production capacity of 3500 tonnes of shrimp per year.

A year earlier, National Shrimp Aquaculture launched FDO’s first shrimp farm at Qurun in Jalan Bani Bu Hassan Wilayat. Set on an area of 500 hectares, it has a capacity of 4,600 tonnes per year. Also in 2023, National Shrimp launched a hatchery in Barka in South Al Batinah Governorate, to serve as an incubator for shrimp seed cultivation as well as a test-bed for future shrimp farm projects.

FDO Group CEO Nabil al Salim al Bimani announced at the time that FDO is finalizing the design of its flagship shrimp farming project, planned at Al Jazer on the Al Wusta coast. It will boast a world-scale capacity of 20,000 tonnes of shrimp per annum.

The past year also witnessed a significant upturn in FDO’s investments in other areas of its diverse fisheries portfolio. Late last month, its wholly-owned affiliate Oman Pelagic took delivery of a high-tech commercial fishing vessel, ADAMAS, from a Spanish shipyard. It came less than a year after the same yard delivered the sister ship ACILA to bolster FDO’s commercial fishing operations.

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