Saudi Aramco’s Unconventional Revolution Surges Forward With South Ghawar Start Up

17 Nov 2023 Issue: 66 / 46 By: Jamie Ingram

Unconventional gas is set to account for the next big wave of upstream development in Saudi Arabia according to a key contractor. The start-up of the South Ghawar development is a big step forward for Saudi Arabia’s unconventional revolution, which forms a key plank of its efforts to end wasteful oil burn.

Saudi Aramco has brought online its second unconventional gas development, announcing first gas from the South Ghawar project on 14 November. The start of production at South Ghawar will amplify other recent gas gains in the kingdom, helping tackle stubbornly high levels of domestic oil burn for power generation and water desalination.

Aramco declined to comment on current output from South Ghawar, but states that “Commissioned facilities at South Ghawar have 300mn cfd of raw gas processing capacity and 38,000 b/d of condensate processing capacity.” The firm has plans to increase processing capacity to 750mn cfd “in the near future”, but it didn’t disclose the planned timeframe for this expansion work. (CONTINUED - 1472 WORDS)