DHAHRAN, 28 July — Saudi Aramco is making rapid strides in securing gas supplies for the growing domestic market, the oil giant said in a statement.
The Hawiyah and Haradh projects, the statement said, represent significant progress in this vital field. Saudi Aramco has already announced the early completion of more than 50 percent of the Haradh Gas Project construction. This project will contribute 1.5 billion cubic feet per day of non-associated sales gas to the Kingdom’s Master Gas System.
Haradh is a twin of the Hawiyah Gas Plant, which was completed in 2001 boosting combined gas supplies by more than 30 percent. The Hawiyah project also represented a quantitative leap for the Kingdom’s gas industry due to its reliance on non-associated gas for its feed stock.
Saudi Aramco has been able to complete more than 50 percent of the Haradh project six weeks ahead of schedule. The enormous project, under way 280 km southwest of Dhahran, is scheduled to be brought on stream in 2003, and is expected to bring the company’s combined sales-gas production to about 7 billion scfd. The plant is designed to process 1.6 billion scfd of non-associated feed gas, increasing the total amount of feed gas to be processed by the MGS to about 9 billion scfd.
The project will recover 145,000 barrels per day (bd) of high quality condensates, which will be transported to Abqaiq Plants for treatment via a 230-km pipeline, then to Ras Tanura Refinery for fractionation into final products.
Gas supplies to feed Haradh Gas Plant will be produced from several non-associated gas fields the company discovered over the past few years through an ambitious gas exploration program. The Haradh Gas Program is made up of the gas plant, an upstream gas-gathering manifold and transmission-line system; a downstream gas and condensate pipeline network; and residential housing for 1,000 men, with an air strip and dual 230-kilovolt overhead power transmission lines.
The project is also noted for the great progress made in the area of Saudization, according to Saudi Aramco. Saudis comprise 90 percent of the program’s management team. The project’s contractors have prepared, based on a request from the company, hiring and technical training programs designed to increase the number of Saudi employees working in such projects.
The Kingdom made a decision in the 1970s to exploit gas through the value chain, including production, processing, manufacturing and marketing of natural gas and its derivatives. The gas industry helps provide job opportunities, while at the same time adding value accrued to the local economy and boosting exports.
The gas industry accounts for over 15 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the Kingdom.
