JEDDAH, 18 January 2004 — Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, will inaugurate today the Haradh Gas and Oil Plant, the third mega-energy project built in the Kingdom in six years. The project consists of a gas plant capable of delivering 1.5 billion standard cubic feet per day of sales gas to Saudi Arabia’s master gas system, and a gas-oil separation plant (GOSP) capable of stabilizing 300,000 barrels per day of crude oil.
The plant, located 280 km (170 miles) southwest of Dhahran, has a capacity to deliver 170,000 bpd of condensate and produce 90 tons of sulfur per day for export.
Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi said Haradh was one of a series of projects and initiatives aimed at strengthening the Kingdom’s energy industry.
“The more than 150 projects being implemented by Saudi Aramco within an integrated five-year plan aim at not only meeting the national requirements but also reinforcing the Kingdom’s position as a dependable world energy supplier,” he said.
Saudi Aramco’s President and Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Jumah noted that in addition to Haradh the other mega-energy projects are the Shaybah oilfield in the Rub Al-Khali, completed in 1998, and the massive Hawiyah gas plant finished in 2002. It was designed, like Haradh, to process gas from reservoirs not associated with oil production.
“These facilities — Shaybah, Hawiyah and now Haradh — show that handling mega-projects has become a core competency of Saudi Aramco,” said Jumah.
In November, Saudi Arabia signed a multibillion-dollar landmark contract with a consortium led by Royal Dutch Shell and Total for gas exploration and production in the south of the Kingdom.
The Kingdom not only has the world’s biggest oil reserves but also has proven natural gas reserves of 224 trillion cubic feet (6.6 trillion cubic meters).
Current gas production in the Kingdom is some six billion cubic feet daily but there are plans to increase it to some 10 billion cubic feet per day by 2010.
