DAWN: S. Arabia’s gas initiative fails to pay off
Saudi Arabia’s decade-long ‘Gas Initiative’ is unravelling — with considerable impact on global energy balance — as galloping domestic consumption seems eating into the exportable crude surplus of the Opec kingpin — Saudi Arabia.
Launched by the then crown prince, and now King Abdullah ibn Abdul Aziz, way back in September 1998, when during an hour long private meeting with senior executives of seven US oil majors he invited them to help develop the kingdom’s energy resources. But things have turned ‘sour’ since.
Initially, the three mooted gas projects focused on a $15 billion scheme to develop gas reserves in South Ghawar field and two minor $5bn ventures that involved gas production for petrochemical, power and water desalination projects.