Asia Farms

Young Living is proud of our history of collaboration in distilling and exporting Omani Sacred Frankincense™ essential oil and bringing it to the Young Living community. Young Living Founder D. Gary Young and Co-Founder Mary Young traveled to Oman in 1995 and learned the rich history of Boswellia sacra—the tree species famous for producing frankincense—that has been harvested in this unique region over the past 5,000 years. Gary was determined to build a distillery, and with the help of Dr. Mahmoud Suhail and his family of frankincense growers and harvesters, Gary established the Young Living Arabian Frankincense Distillery to help Young Living bring Sacred Frankincense essential oil to our global community.

After visiting many Middle Eastern countries, Gary decided to build his distillery in Salalah, Oman. He soon met Dr. Suhail, and the two became friends and business partners. They built the distillery, starting with a single distilling chamber in January 2010. Five months later, they added a second extraction chamber, making their facility the first large commercial distillery in modern times devoted to extracting Sacred Frankincense essential oil.

Demand for the oil grew so much that Dr. Suhail started a larger facility in Muscat, the capital of Oman, where it would be easier to expand operations. Oman also offered more options for testing and collaborative scientific research and placed the distillery in a good position to import supplies, export oil, and stay up to date on the latest government regulations.

Frankincense is extracted from the resin produced by the Boswellia sacra tree, a native to southern Arabia. The name frankincense is derived from an old French word that means “pure incense.” Frankincense has enjoyed widespread use and was valued as a royal gift across several ancient cultures, including in Greece, Rome, and China.