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Saudi Arabia Aims to Raise use of Crude for Power | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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SINGAPORE, (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, aims to step up its use of crude oil for power generation, Saleh Alawaji, deputy minister for electricity said on Wednesday.

Last year, industry sources said the kingdom was burning more crude in domestic power plants to keep new wells pumping and produce cleaner electricity, and likely eliminating demand for imported fuel during the peak summer period.

“It depends on national policy, but that’s our intention — to increase the use of crude oil,” Alawaji said on the sidelines of a conference in Singapore, when asked about the use of more crude for power generation.

He added that Saudi Arabia planned to raise the use of feedstock for power generation to 2.5 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) on a daily average by 2020, from 1.5 million BOE last year.