Saudi Aramco’s plans to raise output to 13 mln bpd ‘on right track’: Nasser

Amin Nasser, President and CEO of Saudi Aramco

Saudi Aramco’s plans to boost production capacity will play an important role in the global energy mix in the next few years, President and CEO Amin Nasser, said. 

In earnings call to comment on Q4 2022 financials, Nasser said the company’s plans to raise its sustainable maximum production capacity to 13 million from 12 million barrels per day (bpd) to undertake global projects is making progress as scheduled.

The first stage of production increase projects will start in 2024 and gradually rise to the target level by 2025. 

The oil giant enjoys flexibility that allows it to achieve further breakthroughs even amid market fluctuations.
 

Aramco is convinced that oil and gas will remain part of the global energy mix in the foreseeable future, the CEO said, believing that the trends of capital investments in the oil and gas sector are insufficient to meet demand and direct a lot of investments in highly depleted projects.
 

In general, the state of uncertainty facing the global economy is likely to continue. However, there are positive indicators, and Aramco enjoys enough flexibility that enables it to achieve success even amid volatile market conditions.
 

Despite the decline in inflation rate in 2022, it is still high and the tight monetary policy this year would create downside risks for the global economy.
 

Aramco has wide-scope projects that provide stable levels of reliability and flexibility in the long term, Nasser said, adding that they provide unique investment opportunities based on a long-term vision through various price cycles.
 

The firm expects its gas production to grow more than 50% by 2030, through conventional and unconventional gas projects until 2025. This comes in light of the rapid growth in domestic demand for gas as a result of the strong economic growth in Saudi Arabia and its plans to transform from burning liquids to burning gas to generate electricity and boost petrochemical production.
 

Further, investments in gas projects support the possibility of building a blue hydrogen value chain and will  allow the export of blue ammonia in the future. This growth brings more benefits, as additional quantities of liquids will be available for export, reaching one million bpd. This is due to the shift from using liquids to gas, and use of nearly one million bpd of additional associated liquids by 2030.
 

Work on business integration with SABIC is proceeding faster than planned, as the additional value of business integration between the two companies reached $2.2 billion, Nasser concluded.

Saudi Aramco recorded a 51% leap in profit, after minority interest, to SAR 598.4 billion in 2022, compared to SAR 395.2 billion a year earlier. In Q4 2022, net profit, after minority interest, grew 9% to SAR 126.5 billion, according to data available with Argaam.