Saudi Aramco awards $10 bln contracts for Jafurah development

Logo of Saudi Aramco

Saudi Arabian Oil Co. (Aramco) today, Nov. 29, announced the start of development of the vast Jafurah unconventional gas field, the largest non-associated gas field in the Kingdom. The Company has awarded subsurface and Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contracts worth $10 billion (SAR 37.5 billion). 

Aramco has awarded 16 subsurface and EPC contracts valued at $10bn for the Jafurah Gas Plant and gas compression facilities, as well as infrastructure and related surface facilities. These contracts were awarded to domestic and international service companies and involve several projects to enable development of subsurface and surface components of the Jafurah program. 

This will allow for the reliable delivery of gas and condensates through a dedicated surface network that includes a gas processing plant, a gas compression system and network of around 1,500 kilometers of main transfer pipelines, flow lines and gas gathering pipelines. The program also includes construction of the Jafurah Bulk Supply Point, transmission lines, power interconnection for Jafurah Gas Plant and new cogeneration plant facilities. 

Capital expenditure at Jafurah is expected to reach $68 billion over the first 10 years of development. 

With an estimated 200 trillion standard cubic feet of gas in place, the Jafurah basin hosts the largest liquid-rich shale gas play in the Middle East. This shale play covers an area measuring 17,000 square kilometers. 

Aramco expects total overall lifecycle investment at Jafurah to exceed $100 billion. 

Production of natural gas at Jafurah is expected to ramp up from 200 million standard cubic feet per day (scfd) in 2025 to reach a sustainable gas rate of 2 billion scfd of sales gas by 2030. 

The project targets 418 million scfd of ethane and around 630,000 barrels per day of gas liquids and condensates, which are essential feedstock for the growing petrochemical industry. It will make Saudi Arabia one of the world’s largest natural gas producers. 

Amin Nasser President and CEO of Saudi Aramco announced earlier today the commercial feasibility of unconventional resources in the Kingdom and the launch of Saudi Aramco's program for the expansion of its gas business, Argaam reported.