Major power outage reported across Oman; traffic signals affected

After a major power outage in several parts of Oman on Monday, large parts of the electricity have been restored to the main network, while work continues to restore power to the rest of the affected areas.

The Public Services Regulatory Authority stressed that the electricity companies are working on connecting electrical loads gradually and ensuring the stability of the network, which may require more time.

Authorities have now identified the cause of the outage, and the Namaa Group issued a statement saying that the "cause of the power outage in the Sultanate of Oman was caused by a technical failure in one of the network's transmission lines." It also stressed that work is underway to complete the return of services to all affected areas.

The authority explained that the interruption started as a result of a technical failure in the 400 kilovolt power transmission lines (the main line and the backup line) linking the two main stations of Ibri and Nihaida, and this led to successive interruptions in large parts of the electricity transmission network and generation stations.

After the disruption of services at Muscat International Airport, the authority issued a statement after restoring operations.

It wrote: "We would like to announce that the operations at Muscat International Airport have resumed to full capacity. We would like to extend our appreciation to our valued passengers for their understanding and cooperation and we apologise for any inconvenience caused by this emergency. We are very grateful to all our strategic partners for the rapid response and great support to prevent any impact on operations as per the approved plans."