Peak Oil is You
Donate Bitcoins ;-) or Paypal :-)
Page added on March 12, 2014
Aramco keen to raise natural gas output
Saudi Aramco plans to produce 200 million cubic feet per day (cfd) of unconventional natural gas by 2018 to supply a new phosphate project and a power plant, an industry source said.
Saudi Arabia aims to develop shale gas for power generation in order to save more of its crude oil for export.
Aramco is keen to increase gas output as it can fetch $100 per barrel by exporting crude oil versus around $4 if it sells it to a Saudi power plant.
CEO Khalid Al-Falih said last year the company was ready to commit gas for the development of a 1,000 megawatt power plant which will feed a phosphate mining project that Saudi Arabian Mining Co (Maaden) is developing for the Waad Al Shamal Mining City.
“40 million cfd will go to the phosphate project of Waad al Shamal while 160 million cfd will go to Saudi Electricity Co for a power plant,” the industry source said.
Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi has said Saudi Arabia has estimated unconventional gas reserves of more than 600 trillion cubic feet, more than double its proven conventional reserves.
That would put Saudi Arabia fifth in a 32-country shale gas reserves ranking compiled for the US Energy Information Administration.
Saudi Aramco is exploring and has made appraisals in the northwest area, the Eastern Province and in the Empty Quarter. It is drilling in the south of Ghawar, the northwest and Jafurah which lies between Al Ahsa and Qatar.
One obstacle is finding water needed to release natural gas from rock, shale or compacted sand formations.
Saudi Arabia aims to use either sea water or liquefied petroleum gas, the latter a technique being developed by North American companies.
“Water is always an issue, it is an issue in North America when they have much more water than we have here in this region,” Amin al-Nasser senior vice president of upstream at Aramco said at an industry conference in Manama on Sunday. “We are looking at using sea water, we are working with lots of companies. Schlumberger is one of them in terms of using water fracking. We are confident that technology will be developed and if we have to use water as I said we are looking at using sea water,” said Nasser.
“The focus area for us is unconventional gas… the cost of unconventional is as you know on the high side and so the question is how do we do it economically,” he told the conference.
5 Comments on "Aramco keen to raise natural gas output"
MSN fanboy on Wed, 12th Mar 2014 11:42 pm
If only a civil war were to happen in Syria and a government would be elected that would help build a pipeline into Europe through Syria and they could sell all that gas undercutting Russia…
… Oh wait
Keith on Thu, 13th Mar 2014 2:20 am
Where is all the clean fresh water going to come from?
Northwest Resident on Thu, 13th Mar 2014 4:30 am
It makes sense for Saudi Arabia to start fracking, as long as the NG is there. We already know that their major oil fields are pumping flat out or very close to it, along with the fact that those fields are rapidly declining. In the meantime, their restless population keeps growing, placing additional demands on the oil being produced. The fracking will do for the Saudi’s what it is doing for America and the rest of the world — stretch BAU out a little longer. Hopefully, by the time the Saudi’s run out of oil, all one billion vehicles in the world will have converted to brand new electric cars, and we’ll be totally solar and wind powered for industry. Throw in a few dozen new nuclear reactors too. A few hundred trillion $$$ and a few billion barrels of oil to power the production machinery ought to do it. Just ask one of our resident Cornucopians, there is nothing to worry about.
Arthur on Thu, 13th Mar 2014 8:27 am
Oil is going, gas is coming, prolonging the fossil fuel age, buying us some time to install an embroinal renewable energy base.
Newfie on Thu, 13th Mar 2014 9:51 pm
Al-Falih looks like Homer Simpson. Duh-oh!