The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that “even as his home region captures headlines for the ongoing conflict in Syria and Iraq, a long-serving energy minister in the Middle East said Tuesday that he wants U.S. businesses to know that his country has a ‘competitive advantage’ of peace and stability.”  

“’We don’t advertise ourselves,’ said Mohammed bin Hamad Al Rumhy, oil and gas minister in Oman, where he has served since 1997. ‘But we are serious in friendship, we are serious in peace, and we are serious in tolerance and understanding others … and that includes the United States.’”  

“Oman also has a wealth of hard-to-get oil and gas that was recently unlocked by hydraulic fracturing.”  

The piece further reports that “fracking technology has loosened ‘tight’ natural gas reserves and brought in a number of investors who have historically shied away from development, Mr. Al Rumhy said.”