Wasit Gas Project On Schedule for 2014 Kick Off (Saudi Arabia)

His Excellency Ali Ibrahim Al-Naimi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Saudi Aramco, on Oct. 16 led board members on a tour of some of the Company’s mega projects.

HE Naimi and Saudi Aramco Board members including Khalid A. Al-Falih, president and CEO, visited Karan Gas field, the company’s first offshore non-associated gas project, and inspected its production platforms in Arabian Gulf waters.

Karan, which has helped to boost the Kingdom’s gas production by 18 percent, was completed ahead of schedule and below budget, reaching its full production capacity of 1.8 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) during the peak summer consumption period. HE Naimi and the board members also toured the gas production facility at Khursaniyah.

After the visit to Karan, the Company’s board members proceeded to the Wasit Gas Project to review and check on its progress. At Wasit, Company officials confirmed that the project is proceeding as scheduled with inauguration set for mid-2014.

With an estimated production capacity of 2.5 bcfd, the Wasit Gas Project will increase the Kingdom’s gas production capacity by 21 percent, and with Karan, both these projects will raise the Kingdom’s gas output by approximately 40 percent.

These gas projects will help meet the Kingdom’s rising demand for energy; support the Saudi economy’s power, water and industrial sectors; and provide mining projects in Ras Al-Khair City with the gas and sulfur needed to produce aluminum, phosphate fertilizers and related manufactured goods.

During the tour with the Board members, HE Naimi launched the Manifa Field’s reservoir water injection operations in preparation for first phase production of Arabian Heavy crude oil at an initial capacity of 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the first half of 2013, and which will gradually increase to 900,000 barrels per day by 2014.

The crude oil from Manifa will feed in-Kingdom refineries that are currently under construction, namely SATORP in Jubail, the joint venture with France’s Total, and YASREF in Yanbu’, the joint venture with Sinopec of China, and the upcoming Jazan refinery, which has received Board approval for financing, and the project’s contracts are expected to be awarded in the coming weeks.

Through such projects, Saudi Aramco will help enhance its growing role in the energy sector in-Kingdom and overseas, and serve as an enabler of opportunities in the Kingdom’s economy and in the diversification of investments in the downstream sectors, particularly in refining and petrochemicals.

[mappress]
Press Release, October 17, 2012