Saudi Arabia Oil And Gas Profile
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Introduction
- Saudi Arabia is considered to be the world's leading petroleum country in terms of reserves, production, exports and refining capacity. The Kingdom owns one quarter of the world reserves, 13 percent of world production, more than 20 percent of petroleum sales in international markets and a refining capacity of more than 3.5 million barrels per day (MMBD).
- Most production comes from fields in the coastal plains of the Eastern Province, an area extending 300 kilometers north and south of Dhahran
- One of the main roles of the Kingdom and other OPEC producing nations to stabilize the oil market is maintaining a cushion of spare production capacity. Such very expensive unused production capacity is considered essential in avoiding major crises resulting from supply shortages.
History
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Regulation
- The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources was established in 1960 to execute the general policy related to oil, gas and minerals. The Ministry supervises its affiliate companies working in the fields of petroleum and minerals by observing and monitoring exploration, development, production, refining, transportation, distribution activities related to petroleum and petroleum products.
Upstream
- According to the Oil and Gas Journal, Saudi Arabia contains approximately 265 billion barrels of proven oil reserves (plus 2.5 billion barrels in the Saudi-Kuwaiti shared Neutral Zone) as of January 1, 2013, amounting to slightly less than one-fifth of proven, conventional world oil reserves.
- Although Saudi Arabia has about 100 major oil and gas fields, over half of its oil reserves are contained in only eight fields. The giant Ghawar Oil Field, the world's largest oil field with estimated remaining reserves of 70 billion barrels, has more proven oil reserves than all but seven other countries.
- Saudi Arabia produced on average 11.6 million bbl/d of total petroleum liquids in 2012. In addition to 9.8 million bbl/d of crude oil, Saudi Arabia produced 1.8 million bbl/d of natural gas liquids (NGL) and other liquids.
- Saudi Arabia maintains the world's largest crude oil production capacity, estimated at a little less than 12 million bbl/d at the end of 2012
- For further information, see Exploration and Production in Saudi Arabia
Active Companies
- Saudi Aramco is Saudi Arabia’s national oil company responsible for all upstream activities in the Kingdom
- Aramco Gulf Operations Company is incorporated as 100% subsidiary of the Kingdom’s national oil company Saudi Aramco, and is responsible for oil production and other hydrocarbon products in the divided zone, comprising four oil fields: Khafji, Hout, Lulu and Dorra
Crude Oils
- Saudi Arabia produces a range of crude oils, from heavy to super light. Of Saudi Arabia's total crude oil production capacity, about 65 to 70 percent is considered light gravity, with about 25 percent considered medium gravity, and the rest heavy.
- The country is moving to reduce the share of the latter two grades. Lighter grades generally are produced onshore, while medium and heavy grades come mainly from offshore fields. Most Saudi oil production, except for extra light and super light, is considered sour, containing relatively high levels of sulfur.
Midstream
- Saudi Aramco operates the world's largest oil processing facility and crude stabilization plant in the world at Abqaiq, in eastern Saudi Arabia, with a crude processing capacity of more than 7 million bbl/d. The plant processes the majority of Arab Extra Light and Arab Light crude oils, as well as NGL.
- The port of Ras Tanura, which includes Ras Tanura Sea Island, Ras Tanura North Pier and Ju’aymah Offshore Terminal, is the biggest crude oil terminal in the world.
LNG
- Saudi Arabia does not have any LNG terminals or projects
Downstream
- Saudi Aramco has four domestic refineries, that have a combined capacity of more than 1 million barrels per day.
- Jiddah Refinery
- Ras Tanura Refinery which is to be expanded: Ras Tanura Refinery Expansion Project
- Riyadh Refinery,
- Yanbu Refinery
- There are also three joint venture refineries
- Saudi Arabia is currently building a number of new joint venture refineries
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page revision: 9, last edited: 20 May 2014 08:23