Oil tanks seen at the Saudi Aramco headquarters during a media tour at Damam city November 11, 2007. REUTERS/ Ali Jarekji/File Photo
Saudi Aramco signed agreements on Thursday worth $4.5 billion with firms from Europe, the United States, China and the United Arab Emirates for work on a range of oil and gas development projects, mostly aimed at boosting gas production.
Saudi Aramco is pushing ahead with energy projects that it has listed as a priority to keep the world well supplied with oil while meeting increased domestic demand for gas to fuel industrial growth.
By freeing up more oil for export, gas projects will increase supplies to energy utilities and as feedstock for the petrochemical industry. Aramco has plans to double its gas output to 23 billion standard cubic feet per day.
Signing the deals at a public ceremony in Dhahran, Aramco did not give the value of each agreement.
Among the deals, China Petroleum Pipelines has been contracted to lay 450 kilometers of gas pipelines by early 2019 to take 290 million scfd of gas from the Haradh field to the Hawiyah processing plant.
“This reflects our commitment to introducing new supplies of clean-burning natural gas. These new supplies will help reduce domestic reliance on liquid fuels for power generation, enable increased liquids exports, provide feedstock to petrochemical industries, and reduce carbon emissions,” Amin Nasser, CEO of Aramco said.
