Oman daily was the first Arabic government-owned newspaper. Its first issue appeared on November 18, 1972 to mark the Sultanate’s second National Day. It first appeared as a weekly daily for a temporary period and, by the 18th of November 1975, it became a half-weekly and it appeared on Saturdays and Tuesdays as a journal that monitored major events that occurred in the country.

Oman daily continued to appear twice a week till the promulgation of Royal Decree No. 49/1980 on the establishment of Oman Newspaper House on May 29, 1980, which set the date for Oman to appear on a daily basis (except Fridays). By 1984, Oman became a full daily publication, except in two days every year—on Eid Al Fitr and Eid Al-Ad’ha.

In 1985, the newspaper increased the number of its pages and added supplements for the first time, one on Wilayats activities (on Mondays), another known as the Cultural Supplement (on Thursdays), a third as the Business Supplement (on Saturdays) and a fourth, family affairs supplement, known as Ostraty (on Tuesdays).

On the 25th of June 1997, a Royal Decree (43/97) was issued on the establishment of Oman Establishment for Press, Publication and Advertising (OEPPA) as a financially and administratively autonomous institution. This gave a strong push to OEPPA to act as a well-qualified, composite and pioneering media establishment that housed two major government-owned dailies, which are Oman Arabic daily and Oman Daily Observer, the latter being the first-ever English daily to have appeared in the Sultanate since 1981.

OEPPA moved to its new building in 1999 and the premises housed the latest press and printing equipment, including computer networks, and a wide base of reporters, correspondents and freelancers within the Sultanate and abroad.