Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat- Saudi Aramco recently discovered a new gas field south of al-Ghawar field in the eastern province, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral resources Ali Al-Nuaimi announced on Sunday.

In a statement to Saudi Press Agency, the Minister said the new field was discovered on August 17th 2006, and is located 50 kilometres south of al-Ghawar field. The new field, named Kassab-1, has daily production average of 16.2 million cubic feet.

Saudi Arabia produces around 9.5 million barrels of oil per day (bpd) and is the world’s top oil exporter and in 2005 posted a record budget surplus of 57 billion dollars.