ALKHOBAR: Saudi Aramco sees the cost of developing its Moneefa heavy crude field at nearly $16 billion, its chief executive said on Monday, up around $7 billion from the initial estimate.
The industry-wide trend toward higher costs would affect the project, Khalid Al-Falih said. Costs rose rapidly during the oil price rise to record levels in 2008, although they have since fallen due to the global recession and declining energy demand. Moneefa is the last of a series of large oilfield development projects scheduled in the world’s top oil exporter. Aramco completed projects earlier this year that took its total capacity to 12.5 million barrels per day (bpd).
Moneefa will eventually have capacity to pump 900,000 bpd. Output would begin in 2013 and the project would be completed in 2015, Falih said.
Moneefa will begin production in 2013 and will be completed in 2015, Falih said in a speech he delivered on Dec. 4 in India and posted on Aramco’s website on Monday.
The cost for Moneefa would be seven times as much as another recent development at the Haradh crude field, which cost $2,500 per barrel of daily oil production capacity added, Falih said. That would indicate Moneefa would cost around $15.8 billion, or about $17,500 per daily barrel of oil capacity.
Aramco slowed work on the project as it looked to cut costs on oil service contracts at the field and across its energy industry. A slump in global energy demand has made further oilfield development less urgent for the world’s top oil exporter.
Oil prices down
World oil prices sank under $75 per barrel on Monday, falling in line with other commodity markets, as traders took their cue from a stronger dollar, dealers said.
New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for January delivery, dipped 99 cents to $74.48 a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for January delivery shed 72 cents to $76.80 per barrel.
