RIYADH, 31 July — Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) has launched a state-of-the-art research center project — the first of its kind to be set up in the Kingdom. The first phase of the project covers an area of 12,800 square meters and includes a three-story building mainly to house laboratories, said the latest issue of OPEC Bulletin.
The project, which has 186 laboratory units, will have a two-story building with a 14-meter ceiling height for the installation of huge equipment. Work on the second phase of the research center will start within three years, said the journal, the mouthpiece of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Commenting on agreements with foreign oil majors, the journal said Saudi Arabia’s refusal to renew an oil concession agreement with the Arabian Oil Company has incurred huge losses to the Japanese company, the journal said, adding that the fiscal year ended 2000 in the red for AOC. The company has reported a net loss of SR491 million in the year 2000. AOC lost its drilling rights in the Alkhafji oil field in the neutral zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in Feb. 2000. (MGAK)
