Gulf of Oman

Commentary

Interest in the basin has been revived by fiscal changes and a better understanding of its prospectivity, and new block awards and gas developments continue to attract partners to the Omani side, where most basin activity takes place, the operating environment is benign and fiscal reforms have restored an investment-grade rating. However, the Iranian side of the basin is closed by sanctions and a US naval blockade, and the 2026 Iran war has brought the conflict into the basin: Iranian drones and missiles have targeted the ports of Duqm and Salalah, and tankers have been attacked near Hormuz. Talks with Iran on a managed Hormuz shipping route offer some upside. Outlook: Neutral.

Updated

October 12, 2026

Location

Description

The margins of the Gulf of Oman Basin range from convergent at the north to translational (transform) at the west and east, and passive at the south. The Basin’s northern margin has been a site of continuous northward subduction of Arabian oceanic crust since Cretaceous time. This has built the Makran accretionary wedge, one of the largest on Earth: c.1,000km long from the Strait of Hormuz to near Karachi and c.350–400km wide, about two-thirds of it exposed onshore in Iran and Pakistan, with incoming sediment up to c.7km thick. Strata in the centre of the Gulf of Oman Basin show minor deformation caused by northward tilting of the oceanic crust. A basin-wide unconformity divides these strata in two; it formed by erosion in the Early Oligocene, when bottom-water circulation strengthened during a climatic deterioration.

Summary

Relatively underexplored and until recently was considered to be either an extension of the Masirah Trough. However, new interest in the Basin has been sparked by changes to the fiscal regime and a more detailed understanding of its prospectivity.