Saudi Aramco discovers seven oil, gas deposits

State-owned Saudi Aramco has discovered seven oil and gas deposits, the official Saudi Press Agency announced on July 1, quoting the country’s energy minister Abdulaziz bin Salman.

The company has discovered two unconventional oil fields, a reservoir of light oil, two natural gas fields, and two natural gas reservoirs. The two unconventional oil fields were discovered in the Eastern Province, while the two natural gas fields and two reservoirs were discovered in the Empty Quarter.

Saudi Aramco on June 30 announced the award of contracts worth more than $25bn to progress gas projects. The contracts include $12.4bn for the Jafurah project, $8.8bn for the master gas system, and $2.4bn for gas rigs.

The Jafurah unconventional gas field is estimated to contain 229 trillion ft³ of raw gas. Phase one of the Jafurah development programme, which commenced in November 2021, is progressing on schedule with initial start-up anticipated in the third quarter of 2025. Aramco expects total overall lifecycle investment at Jafurah to exceed $100bn and production to reach a sustainable sales gas rate of 2bn ft³/day by 2030, in addition to ethane, NGL, and condensate.