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Construction and engineering activities for Saudo Aramco's Marjan and Berri crude oil increments continue to make progress and are expected to add production capacities of 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) and 250,000 bpd, respectively, by 2025.
The Zuluf crude oil increment is in the engineering phase and will likely provide a central facility to process 600,000 bpd of crude oil from the Zuluf field by 2026, the oil major said in its 2022 financial statement.
Construction activities are also continuing on the Dammam development project, which is anticipated to add 25,000 bpd and 50,000 bpd of crude oil by 2024 and 2027, respectively.
Gas compression projects at the Haradh and Hawiyah fields commenced commissioning activities and full capacity is expected to be reached in 2023.
Construction at the Hawiyah Unayzah Gas Reservoir Storage, the first underground natural gas storage project in the Kingdom, is at an advanced stage and has commenced injection activities. The programme will provide up to 2 billion standard cubic feet per day of natural gas for reintroduction into the Kingdom’s Master Gas System by 2024.
FID for China refinery
Aramco announced its Final Investment Decision (FID) to participate in developing a major integrated refinery and petrochemical complex in northeast China. Aramco is expected to supply up to 210,000 bpd of crude oil feedstock to the complex. The transaction is subject to certain closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.
Aramco and TotalEnergies made a final investment decision in December 2022 to construct a large petrochemical complex in Saudi Arabia. It will enable existing SATORP refinery to advance Aramco’s liquids-to-chemicals strategy. The investment decision is subject to customary closing conditions and approvals.
In October 2022, Aramco established a $1.5 billion sustainability fund to invest in the technology needed to support a stable and inclusive energy transition. The fund plans to invest in technologies that support the company’s announced Scope 1 and Scope 2 net-zero 2050 ambition in its wholly-owned operational assets, as well as the development of new lower-carbon fuels.
In November 2022, a joint development agreement between Aramco and the Ministry of Energy was signed to construct one of the largest planned carbon capture and storage (CCS) hubs in the world in Jubail with a storage capacity of up to nine million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year by 2027.
(Writing by D Madhura; Editing by Anoop Menon)
