Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Saudi 2009 Oil Capacity Plan on Track: Official | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
Select Page

RIYADH (Reuters) – State oil giant Saudi Aramco is on track to hit its oil production capacity target of 12 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2009, an Aramco official said on Sunday.

The start of Aramco’s 500,000 bpd Khursaniyah oilfield was delayed a few months to the first quarter this year from December last year. Other expansion plans in the world’s largest oil exporter through to 2009 remain on schedule, Aramco’s Senior Vice President of Exploration and Production Amin al-Nasser said in a presentation to an energy conference in Riyadh.

“We are going up to 12 million bpd (oil production capacity) in 2009,” Nasser said.

Aramco’s total output capacity does not include the Saudi share of capacity in the neutral zone between the kingdom and Kuwait. Saudi Arabia is aiming for total output capacity, including the neutral zone, of 12.5 million bpd in 2009.

A 250,000 bpd expansion at the Shaybah oilfield and the development of the 100,000 bpd Nuayyim field will add another 350,000 bpd of capacity by the end of 2009, he said.

Aramco aims to boost gas output capacity to 12 billion cubic feet per day (cfd) in 2011 from 9.5 billion cfd, he added.