Saudi Arabia's Manifa project expected to boost oil production
State-run Saudi Arabian Oil Co., or Saudi Aramco, iscte exped to produce an extra 900,000 barrels a day of crude within four years from its Manifa oil field project, Dow Jones Newswires reported on Thursday.
According to a statement on Aramco's Web site, plans for developing the Manifa field in the Persian Gulf off the Saudi east coast are "proceeding on schedule" and are expected to be completed in June 2011.
Persian Gulf oil producers have been spending income generated from three years of high oil prices to expand and upgrade their crude oil production capacity to meet rising global demand, in particular from fast-growing Asian economies such as China and India.
The Manifa program is part of Saudi Arabia's plan to raise production capacity beyond the 12.5 million barrels a day targeted by 2010. The kingdom's current capacity is just above 11 million barrels a day.
Manifa, whose construction is estimated to cost US$10 billion (€7.4 billion), is Aramco's largest-ever offshore project. It also involves construction of processing facilities, a water-supply system, four major downstream pipelines and expanded export terminals at Juaymah and Ras Tanura on the Saudi east coast, Aramco said.
The project will also process 90 million cubic feet a day of natural gas.
Aramco in January signed an estimated US$1 billion (€743 million) contract with Belgium dredging contractor Jan De Nul to build a 25-mile (41-kilometer) causeway to the Manifa oil field and its 27 drilling islands in the Gulf by December 2009.
The gas will be processed at the Khursaniyah gas plant on the Saudi east coast, which will also be expanded as part of the Manifa program, Aramco also said.
The Dhahran-based state-owned oil company is going ahead with the Manifa development, despite rising cost as a result of a regional construction boom which has brought a shortage of contractors, raw materials, equipment and qualified labor, and driven up prices.
Aramco is also proceeding with a deal with Dow Chemical Co. to build a large-scale refinery and petrochemicals complex in eastern Saudi Arabia despite industry estimates that costs have more than doubled to US$22 billion (€16.3 billion).
But elsewhere, Gulf energy projects are being delayed or threatened with cancellation due to soaring costs.
According to a statement on Aramco's Web site, plans for developing the Manifa field in the Persian Gulf off the Saudi east coast are "proceeding on schedule" and are expected to be completed in June 2011.
Persian Gulf oil producers have been spending income generated from three years of high oil prices to expand and upgrade their crude oil production capacity to meet rising global demand, in particular from fast-growing Asian economies such as China and India.
The Manifa program is part of Saudi Arabia's plan to raise production capacity beyond the 12.5 million barrels a day targeted by 2010. The kingdom's current capacity is just above 11 million barrels a day.
Manifa, whose construction is estimated to cost US$10 billion (€7.4 billion), is Aramco's largest-ever offshore project. It also involves construction of processing facilities, a water-supply system, four major downstream pipelines and expanded export terminals at Juaymah and Ras Tanura on the Saudi east coast, Aramco said.
The project will also process 90 million cubic feet a day of natural gas.
Aramco in January signed an estimated US$1 billion (€743 million) contract with Belgium dredging contractor Jan De Nul to build a 25-mile (41-kilometer) causeway to the Manifa oil field and its 27 drilling islands in the Gulf by December 2009.
The gas will be processed at the Khursaniyah gas plant on the Saudi east coast, which will also be expanded as part of the Manifa program, Aramco also said.
The Dhahran-based state-owned oil company is going ahead with the Manifa development, despite rising cost as a result of a regional construction boom which has brought a shortage of contractors, raw materials, equipment and qualified labor, and driven up prices.
Aramco is also proceeding with a deal with Dow Chemical Co. to build a large-scale refinery and petrochemicals complex in eastern Saudi Arabia despite industry estimates that costs have more than doubled to US$22 billion (€16.3 billion).
But elsewhere, Gulf energy projects are being delayed or threatened with cancellation due to soaring costs.