evidoria

← Back to browse

Good practice Imported

Special Economic Zone at Duqm — Oman's $20 Billion Bet on Economic Diversification

Oman · Duqm · See the Oman profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 54% 67/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Oman's Duqm Special Economic Zone had drawn over $20 billion in cumulative investment and 100+ projects by 2025, employing 12,400+ workers — but Omani nationals still held barely a quarter of those jobs, up from one-fifth a year earlier.

$20 billion
Cumulative investment (as of June 2025)
12,400+
Zone workforce (mid-2025)
~20% → ~26%
Omanization rate (H1 2024 → H1 2025)
Special Economic Zone at Duqm — Oman's $20 Billion Bet on Economic Diversification

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones (OPAZ) — Special Economic Zone at Duqm (SEZAD)
Period
2011–present (2025–30 strategy phase)
Keywords
special economic zone, green hydrogen, green steel, port and logistics, heavy industry, tourism

Context

The Special Economic Zone at Duqm (SEZAD), overseen by Oman's Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones (OPAZ), was established in 2011 to diversify Oman's oil-dependent economy around a deep-water port, dry dock, refinery and free-zone industrial estate.

Activities

By June 2025, cumulative investment in the zone had passed $20 billion across more than 100 operational or under-construction projects, spanning a refinery and petrochemicals complex, green hydrogen and green steel plants, wind-turbine manufacturing, a dry dock, tourism developments and port infrastructure.

Results

The zone's workforce reached over 12,400 by mid-2025, and Oman's 2025-30 strategy targets more than 30,000 direct and indirect jobs by 2030. Local (Omani) employment rose from 1,544 to 3,245 workers between the first halves of 2024 and 2025, lifting the Omanization rate from about 20% to just over 26%.

Conclusions

Job creation has lagged capital deployed — still short of national Omanization targets — a reminder that Duqm's heavy-industry investment mix is capital-intensive rather than labour-intensive.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Very high (> €5M) — Cumulative investment of $20 billion as of June 2025, with MIGA political-risk guarantees for some investors.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Established 2011; current strategy phase runs 2025-2030.
Staffing & skills
Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones (OPAZ), Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA)

Conditions for success

  • Political-risk guarantees from MIGA supporting investor confidence
  • A defined multi-decade master plan with sub-zone pipeline through 2030

Common failure modes

  • Local employment growth has lagged capital investment, still short of national Omanization targets

Where it fits

Governance type
national government special economic zone
Scale
national, single zone
Income level
high income

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

Do you run this practice? Claim it — verified implementers get a public contact pathway and can propose corrections.

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

Similar practices you may find useful