Aramco launches largest shale gas development outside America

dammam/riyadh — Saudi Aramco is launching the biggest shale gas development outside of the US to boost domestic gas supply and end the burning of oil at its power generation plants, CEO Amin Nasser told Reuters.

The kingdom has adopted the techniques developed in US fields — which started with gas — for the huge $110 billion Jafurah shale gas field project. Aramco received the go-ahead for the project on Saturday.

If Aramco hits its targets for development of the field, Saudi Arabia would become the world’s third-largest gas producer by 2030. The world’s top two gas producers are the United States and Russia.

No second listing plans yet

Nasser told Reuters on Tuesday that there were no plans for a secondary listing for the oil giant’s shares for one year from the initial offering. An international listing “is something we will be discussing later”, he said.

Nasser also said Aramco had to deal with minimal impact after global oil demand dropped due to new coronavirus spread.

“When we do our plans we take into consideration over supply or shortage of supply, this is part of our flexibility, we have been through many cycles so many times,” Nasser said during a panel discussion at an industry conference in Riyadh.

Meanwhile, the growth in US shale oil production will slow to 600,000 to 700,000 bpd in 2020 and to 200,000 bpd in 2021, the CEO of Schlumberger said. “Next year it will be 200,000 bpd,” Olivier Le Peuch told Reuters in Riyadh. —