Mohammed Al Barwani

Barwani started his career in the oil industry as a reservoir engineer for Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), a joint venture of Shell and the Government of Oman, where he worked from 1976 to 1986.^[5]

Barwani founded MB Holding in 1982 to provide oilfield services. MB expanded into oil and gas exploration and production, and then engineering services^[2] and subsequently founded Mawarid Mining in 1987 and Petrogas in 1999.^[6] In 1997 he acquired KC Drilling in Hungary, in 2000, Erdol-Edgas Workover in Germany, and in 2004 United Engineering Services, in Oman. He also acquired Hyspec in the United Kingdom, in 2012.^[7]

Barwani is the former owner of the Dutch yacht builder Oceanco.^[2][8] He first visited the company in 2009,^[9] and acquired it from Greek businessman Theodore Angelopoulos in 2010.^[10] He sold Oceanco to Gabe Newell in 2025.^[11] In 2015, Barwani bought the Turkish shipyard Turquoise Yachts.^[12][13] He runs Musstir, a property developer with "stakes in several hotels in Oman".^[2]

Barwani is a non-executive director of a number of publicly traded and joint stock companies, Al Madina Insurance co. SAOG, Al Madina Investments SAOG (Muscat Stock Market), Nautilus Minerals.^[14] He was formerly a non-executive director of Oman Air, Shell Oman Marketing Company, Taageer Leasing Company, Oman, and National Bank of Oman.^[15] He is a member of the International SeaKeepers Society.^[9]

Barwani was included in the book Those Who Inspire Oman, published in November 2012 by the publishing house Those Who Inspire Ltd.^[16]

As of May 2016, Forbes estimated his net worth at US$1.01 billion.^[2]

In 2020, Barwani was appointed as chairman of Oman Air the national airline of Oman.^[17]

He is married to Sharifa al Harthy, who has always been involved in the company, and she is deputy chairman of MB Holding.^[18] They live in Muscat, and have five children, all of whom work for MB Holding.^[2]

Barwani owns several boats, with the 32-metre yacht Sharifa being the largest.^[19]