Saudi Plans $4.5bn Gas, Crude Projects
State-run Saudi Aramco has signed eight service contracts worth almost $4.5bn that will help increase the role of gas in the economy, it said November 9.
It signed three with Madrid-based Tecnicas Reunidas as part of the gas compression programme in the Southern Area, bringing an extra 1.3bn ft³/day of output from Haradh and Hawiyah fields for the next 20 years. The Hawiyah Gas Plant (HGP) expansion project, awarded to Saipem, will provide additional processing facilities to process raw sweet gas, adding another 1bn ft³/d, bringing the total to 3.86bn ft³/d, making it one of the world's largest.
Other agreements cover the Free Flow Pipeline Contract for Haradh and Hawiyah with China Petroleum Pipelines Company; engineering and project management services for the Zuluf Field development program with Jacobs Engineering; the pipeline and trunk line project for the Safaniyah Field with Abu Dhabi-based National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC); and the slipover platforms and electrical distribution platform project in Safaniyah Field with McDermott Middle East, it said.
The Zuluf and Safaniya fields are oil producers.
Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said the deals reflected the company's "commitment to introducing new supplies of clean-burning natural gas. These new supplies will help reduce domestic reliance on liquid fuels for power generation, enable increased liquids exports, provide feedstock to petrochemical industries, and reduce carbon emissions.”
He added: “Investments like these help secure Saudi Aramco’s pre-eminent position as a reliable supplier of energy domestically and to the world. They also reflect our concerted effort, as stated in Saudi Vision 2030, to diversify our economy, promote local manufacturing, support a sustainable environment, and strengthen our business and investment climate with the domestic private sector through fruitful international partnerships.”
Nasser outlined Aramco's goal of doubling gas output over the coming decade to reach 23bn ft³/day, when he spoke at the 22nd World Petroleum Congress in Istanbul July 10 2017.
William Powell