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Saudi Arabia plans $110bn gas project
SAUDI ARABIA
The field’s gas will be used for domestic industries.
SAUDI Aramco plans to invest $110bn to develop unconventional gas reserves in Saudi Arabia’s Al-Jafurah field, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Friday.
The development plans were reviewed by the Saudi High Commission for Hydrocarbons in a meeting chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS).
The Al-Jafurah deposits are estimated to hold 200tn cubic feet (56.6bn cubic metres) of wet gas and the phased development of the field is anticipated to gradually raise production to 2.2 tcf (62.3 bcm) per year by 2036 if fully completed, SPA said.
Al Jafurah is south-east of Ghawar, the world’s largest conventional oilfield, and is located between Ghawar and the Gulf, near the hub of the Saudi energy industry. It will be able to pro- duce about 130,000 barrels per day of ethane, representing about 40% of the kingdom’s current production, and about 500,000 bpd of gas liquids and condensates required for the petrochemical industries, representing about 34% of its current output.
Unconventional gas refers to reserves requir- ing advanced extraction methods, such as those used in the shale gas industry.
SPA said the crown prince had ordered gas produced from Al-Jafurah to be prioritised for domestic industries, including electricity, water desalination, mining and others, to support the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 development plan.
The crown prince also said that within 22 years, from the beginning of its development, the field would earn a net income for the govern- ment of about $8.6bn annually (SAR32bn) and
would provide an estimated $20bn (SAR75bn) to GDP annually and lead to creating direct and indirect job opportunities for citizens in those sectors and others. He noted that the stages of its development would gradually increase the field’s production of gas to reach on development completion to 2.2tn cubic feet (62.3bn cubic metres) per year; he also praised Saudi Aramco for developing the field, saying it will help trans- form Saudi Arabia into one of the world’s leading gas producers.
Known officially as Saudi Arabian Oil Co., the state-run company is expanding its search for gas as a potential export to help reduce the nation’s reliance on sales of crude. Saudi Arabia also wants to use gas at home as fuel in power stations and as feedstock for the production of petrochemicals, a high-priority industry for the government in its strategy to diversify the economy.
Earlier attempts to find and develop Saudi gas, together with international partners includ- ing ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell, have met with lacklustre results. Using improved technol- ogy, Aramco’s plans centre on finding uncon- ventional gas at the South Ghawar and Jafurah deposits in eastern Saudi Arabia.
It also intends to build a reverse-osmosis desalination plant to treat Persian Gulf seawater for injection into the Jafurah Basin to dislodge shale gas. The water-treatment facility is in the planning and design phase and is anticipated to be in operation in four to five years.
Aramco intends to double its total gas pro- duction to 23bn cubic feet (651mn cubic metres) per day over the coming decade. ™
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