Large quantities of gas have been discovered in the Red Sea, the official Saudi Press Agency said, citing comments made by Minister of Energy Khalid Al-Falih.
Al-Falih said that Saudi Aramco will intensify exploration work over the next two years after completion of a feasibility study. Falih also said Saudi Aramco was studying possible Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) project acquisition opportunities in the United States, adding that Aramco also aims to invest in South Africa where the oil giant is studying a petrochemicals project.
Khalid Al-Falih.
Saudi Arabia’s proven gas reserves were measured at 325.1 trillion standard cubic feet of gas as of the end of 2017, according to official data from the Ministry of Energy reported in February.
Saudi Aramco plans to boost its gas production to 23 billion standard cubic feet (scf) a day from 14 billion scf now, according to CEO Amin Nasser in comments made at a chemicals industry event in Dubai last year. “Our gas program… will attract investments of about $150 billion over the next decade,” he said, according to OilPrice.com. “We also have world-class unconventional gas resources that are rapidly supplementing our large conventional resources.”
For comparison, neighboring Qatar plans to boost its LNG capacity by early 2024 to 110 million tonnes a year, up from its current production of 77 million tonnes a year, by adding a fourth LNG production line, according to Reuters.
