Aramco explores new opportunities

Saudi Aramco is to take snapshots of new lands in areas around Riyadh, Jeddah and the Eastern Province with the aim of exploring new oil resources.
The company has formed a seven-member team to take photos and shoot videos. This will take around 23 days and the results will be presented to Saudi Aramco’s board at its upcoming meeting next month, a source told Al-Watan newspaper.
The source said that the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources asked the Ministry of Interior to facilitate the team’s operations.
“This is an early stage that seeks to determine the location of oil deposits and their size prior,” the source said. The Ministry of Interior instructed the governorates of Makkah, Riyadh and the Eastern Province to facilitate the team’s task.
Saudi Aramco is now working on two new refineries in Yanbu and Jubail, each with a capacity of 400,000 bpd, to be dedicated to heavy oil grades for export.
In November 2012, Saudi Aramco signed a contract for the construction and procurement of a refinery and terminal, located in the heart of Jazan’s Industrial Park on a 12-sq km area.
Once the project is completed at the end of 2016, the refinery will be capable of processing 400,000 bpd of Arabian heavy crude to produce gasoline and diesel with extremely low sulfur content.