Saudi Aramco chief executive Amin Nasser said yesterday that the company plans to start producing gas from the Waad al-Shamal project in the north-west of the kingdom in late 2017 as part of a programme to double gas output within the next decade.
He told Bloomberg in Bahrain that shale gas production in the Al-Jafurah basin close to Ahsa in the Eastern Province will begin in 20118.
Saudi Aramco plans to increase gas production to 23bn cubic feet a day compared with around 12bn cubic feet a day at present.
“Gas is very important to fuel industries, especially in the petrochemical sector,” Nasser said. The use of gas in power-generation and manufacturing also frees up more crude oil for export, he said.
Aramco plans to start producing shale gas in late 2017 from the Wa’ad Al Shamal project in the country’s northwestern region. In 2018, it will begin producing at the al-Jafurah basin in the kingdom’s Eastern Province, Nasser said.
Nasser also said the IPO of Saudi Aramco would be for all the company’s operations and is on tract for 2018.
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