07-05-2025
Ian Skeet obituary: Shell worker who revealed the secrets of Oman
A humane and broad-minded Arabist who did not remotely fit the stereotype of the modern oil executive, Ian Skeet was one of the few foreigners admitted to the hermit state of Muscat and Oman in the 1960s. He was also one of the few permitted to travel with comparative freedom through large tracts of its interior. Posted there by Royal Dutch Shell in 1966, he made several journeys across the country's sand deserts and arid highlands with the aim of preparing the wary tribes and sheikhs for the coming of oil.
Since his accession in 1932, Sultan Said bin Taimur had controlled almost everything in the country, personally approving visa applications, deliberately isolating the nation from the headlong development going on elsewhere in the Gulf
