RIYADH: Oil production among the GCC countries is predicted to reach 10 million barrels a day by 2015, with half of that number being produced by Saudi Arabia, according to a latest study revealed yesterday. A massive $300 billion investment in boosting oil production is under way which could see the Arabian Gulf deliver a staggering 10 million barrels of crude a day in added capacity by 2015 — more than half from Saudi Arabia alone — according to project research firm Proleads. “Recent analysis of total global oil production and development projects that world crude production capacity from all sources has the potential to rise from 87 million barrels per day to as much as 108 million by 2015,” said Emil Rademeyer, director of Proleads.
“Our analysis shows that if all current projects across the region meet their projected targets in barrels of oil a day, it would mean that by 2015 the hydrocarbon rich countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will be supplying more than half that future added oil capacity,” said Rademeyer.
This important Proleads analysis also reveals that within the GCC countries of Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates approved upstream oil projects designed to either maintain or increase production capacity have soared in value from below $1.5 billion in 2006 to a 2008 peak of $30 billion. Across the GCC, Proleads is also tracking a record of nearly 300 active upstream oil projects with a combined value of almost $300 billion.
“Saudi Arabia is leading the way and would contribute more than half the 10 million barrels a day in added capacity if all projects deliver on target by 2015,” Rademeyer added. “Saudi Arabia, with one-fifth of the world’s proven oil reserves and some of the lowest production costs, has an aggressive energy sector investment initiative.”
Between this year and 2009 alone, Saudi Arabia has put in place projects with target added production capacity of more than 1.6 million barrels a day. By 2015, projects in Saudi Arabia are targeting 5.2 million barrels a day in added capacity. By 2010, Qatar — richer in gas than oil — is targeting an increase of 1.4 million barrels a day in added production capacity. Projects approved in the United Arab Emirates indicate added oil production capacity of almost 1.9 million barrels a day by 2013.
Current approved projects in Kuwait indicate an increase in capacity of around one million barrels a day by 2011 but this does not take account of expected developments in the country’s northern fields which have yet to be approved. Oman, where fields have been depleting, hopes to achieve added capacity of around 460,000 barrels a day by 2012.