RIYADH, 22 July 2003 — Saudi Arabia will invite tenders from international oil majors for three giant natural gas exploration projects at a meeting in London today, the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi said yesterday.
“We will offer three specific projects, each with an area of between 30,000 to 50,000 sq. kilometers (19,000 to 31,500 sq. miles). More areas will be offered in the future,” Naimi told the official SPA news agency.
About 40 hand-picked foreign companies from Britain, Canada, China, France, Germany, Holland, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Russia and the United States will attend the meeting, Naimi said.
The three-day meeting was called after the collapse of the multibillion dollar Saudi Natural Gas Initiative (NGI) in its integrated form. It follows Riyadh’s July 16 decision to grant a major gas exploration project to a consortium led by Royal Dutch Shell, and which includes Total and Saudi Aramco.
The London meeting will be followed by separate detailed talks between the ministry experts and representatives of the oil companies.
