Saudi Aramco Starts Up Production at Khurais Oil Field

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Published at: www.rigzone.com

Khurais a Drop in the Bucket

June 16, 2009

Analysis by: GLG Expert Contributor

It's important that the secretive Saudis have announced a large new field coming on line, but the Khurais field's reported size - 27 B bbls. - is roughly 10% of the prior Saudi total (if such estimates are credible), and merely 2% of proven global reserves. It is no panacea, perhaps even for the Saudis.

Michael LynchConsultantMichael E. Lynch

Saudi Aramco inaugurates world’s largest redevelopment in the desert west of supergiant Ghawar

June 15, 2009

The Rigzone Newsletter of June 11 quoted M. Ghazanfar Ali Khan of McClatchy-Tribune Information Services who reported that the giant Khurais oil field had started production. The new 1.25 million bbl/day oil field will boost the Kingdom’s production capacity to 12.5 million bbl/day. This comes in addition to the 900,000 [Moneefa] oil field expansion planed for 2013. Oil from Khurais is being pumped into tanks located at the site. The project includes crude oil from Abu Jifan and Mazalij, two smaller oil fields in the area. The Kingdom does not now require the extra capacity. Khurais also produces 315 million cubic feet of sour gas and 70,000 bbl/day of natural gas liquids. Khurais field contains 27 billion barrels of reserves. This is the biggest single addition to global production of light crude ever in the upstream petroleum industry. While the global economic recession has slowed demand, it is expected that Khurais will produce for 20-25 years. The project required 420 wells.