To meet the rising demands for residential properties in the Sultanate, Standard Chartered has for the first time in Oman introduced a complete mortgage solution, targeted at residential owners. It complements Standard Chartered's current array of retail finance products.

The CEO of Oman Air said it will take four years for the carrier to swing into a profit as new aircraft and routes become established and the global economy recovers from the downturn, the National has reported.

Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa, chief executive of Bahrain's Economic Development Board, has said the kingdom plans to privatise Gulf Air within about a year, after its turnaround programme bears fruit, Reuters has reported.

The Sultanate’s Labour Confederation (SLC) institutional conference was held here recently in which board members were elected from 48 labour union representations.

Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) on has announced the discovery of three new oil fields, one with a major volume of oil in place, as well as a potentially large gas field in Oman, worldoil.com reported.

Following an ambitious exploration program in central Oman, PDO said the major oil discovery had been made at Al Ghubar South, close to the existing Al Ghubar and Qarn Alam fields. In all, four exploration and appraisal wells were drilled in 2009 to confirm the discovery, and further drilling to delineate further extensions of the field is planned during 2010.