Aramco starts production from Manifa
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KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia, April 15, (RTRS): Saudi Arabian state oil company Aramco has started pumping oil from its giant 900,000 barrels per day (bpd) Manifa oilfield, it said on Monday.
Aramco said Manifa’s output will reach 500,000 bpd by July, in line with a previously announced schedule and rise to 900,000 bpd by the end of 2014.
Manifa will produce Arabian Heavy independent, from a nominees list to represent shareholders on the Board of Directors in its next session, starting with the approval of the General Assembly and for a term of three years. The Board members were also elected: Abdullah Mohammad Al-Issa, Dr Khaled Hamza Nahas, Mohammad Abdullah AlKhurashi and Abdulaziz Habdan AlHabdan.
In his remarks, Prince Saud praised the participation of SABIC shareholders in helping to achieve corporate development objectives and leadership ambitions. He said that the company’s growing success and performance was the result of integrated and combined efforts of the SABIC Board, Executive Management, employees, shareholders, customers and suppliers. He highlighted the important role of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, the Crown Prince and the government in contributing towards this success.
Prince Saud further said that SABIC has maintained a strong financial performance during 2012, and increased its production capacity to reach 72 million tons, a threemillion-ton increase compared to the previ- crude grade.
The offshore field, discovered in the 1950s will not boost the kingdom’s oil production capacity, but serve to keep its ability stable by offsetting declines from other ageing fields.
Saudi Arabia has an oil output capacity of 12.5 million bpd.
With the additional production from Manifa, the kingdom will be able to maintain export levels depending of ous year. The company has achieved total sales of SR 189 billion.
The company’s total assets grew to SR 338 billion, compared to SR 333 billion, with net income around SR 24.7 billion. The total volume of sales reached 55 million tons, one million more than the previous year. The shareholders’ equity increased to SR 148 billion, compared to SR 138 billion. Thanks to its strong performance, the company maintained its stable top credit rating as well as its outlook by international credit rating agencies.
For his part, Mohamed Al-Mady, SABIC Vice Chairman and CEO, outlined the company’s achievements during 2012, and its tireless efforts to double its national contributions and enhance its competitiveness in global markets. “SABIC continues to invest in downstream industries to support the Kingdom’s economic development through a number of important projects,” he said.
Al-Mady spoke of several projects with an investment of approximately SR 44 billion. They include a steel and long products project at HADEED with an annual production capacity of one million market demand, and partly supply a new, 400,000-bpd refinery run by Aramco and France’s Total in Jubail on the Saudi eastern coast.
The Manifa field located in shallow, offshore waters but reliant on long wells drilled from onshore, will also be used to supply crude to an Aramco joint-venture refinery with China’s Sinopec in Yanbu, on the Red Sea coast. tons and estimated investment of SR 3.3 billion, projects at IBN RUSHD with an investment SR 4 billion, and an elastomers project in Jubail Industrial City, a joint venture with ExxonMobil, with an investment of SR 12 billion. Al-Mady also spoke of the SHROUQ and SAMAC projects, the expansion of PETROKEMYA, and the world-class phosphate production facility to be established with the Mosaic Company and Ma’aden.
Al-Mady further highlighted SABIC’s focus on investing in technology and innovation to provide new products and solutions to meet the challenges facing the petrochemical industry. He pointed out that SABIC will open four new technology centers this year — two in Saudi Arabia, one in Shanghai, China and another in Bangalore, India.
Concluding his speech, Al-Mady said that SABIC has the elements of continuous success, such as qualified, trained human resources, and the application programs it needs to reduce costs and improve productivity, enhancing its competitive position in global markets. “Only strong companies can afford to meet present-day challenges and solve problems,” he said.