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Saudi Arabia
Gas Reserves and Production Capacity
In the Saudi fields, dissolved gas is associated under pressure
with the crude oil in the reservoir. When the reservoir is penetrated
by a production well, the pressure causes the crude oil mixed
with the associated gas to rise freely to the surface. In Al Ghawar
field, for example, 15 cubic meters of gas are extracted for every
barrel of oil, while As Saffaniyah field produces 26 cubic meters
of gas for every crude oil barrel. In numerous gas-oil separation
plants (GOSPs), the associated gas is separated from the crude
oil. In addition, a number of fields containing only natural gas
have been discovered. In the late 1970s, the government estimated
total gas reserves, including associated gas, at 2.4 trillion
cubic meters, or about 3 percent of known world gas deposits.
By 1991 gas reserves in Saudi Aramco's fields were estimated at
about 5.1 trillion cubic meters, while gas reserves in the Divided
Zone were estimated at 170 billion cubic meters. The ratio of
reserves to current production has remained relatively steady
at 100 to 115 years since the mid-1980s.
Data as of December 1992
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