Saudi Aramco’s proven reserves revised upwards after independent certification

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources of Saudi Arabia on Thursday announced an upward revision to the Kingdom’s proven oil and gas reserves, the Center for International Communication (CIC) said in a statement.

The announcement follows an independent certification of oil and gas reserves in Saudi Aramco’s concession area conducted by leading consultants DeGolyer and MacNaughton (D&M).

The Kingdom previously announced that oil and gas reserves as of 31 December 2017 were 266.3 billion barrels of oil and 307.9 trillion standard cubic feet of gas respectively.

Of these, the estimated proven oil and gas reserves in Saudi Aramco’s concession area were 260.9 billion barrels of oil and 302.3 trillion standard cubic feet of gas, the CIC statement added.

Following the certification, Saudi Aramco’s concession area oil reserves at year-end 2017 would have been 2.2 billion barrels higher or 263.1 billion barrels of oil and 319.5 trillion standard cubic feet of gas.

In addition to Saudi Aramco concession area reserves, the Kingdom also owns half of the oil reserves in the Partitioned Zone jointly owned by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

The Kingdom’s share of the Partitioned Zone oil reserves (onshore and offshore combined) is 5.4 billion barrels and the corresponding gas reserves is 5.6 TCF, the statement added.

So, combining this with the oil reserves in the Saudi Aramco’s concession area, the Kingdom’s total proven oil and gas reserves as of year-end 2017 would have been about 268.5 billion barrels of oil and 325.1 trillion standard cubic feet of gas, respectively, CIC statement said.