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Saudi Arabia
Upstream Development Plans
In the early 1990s, Saudi Arabia was engaged in five major programs
to raise production capacity of crude oil to 10 million bpd by
the mid-1990s. The overall plan was originally scheduled for completion
in 1998, but accelerated activity in the wake of the gulf crisis
and the allocation of additional funds has moved the projected
completion date to 1994. The cost of this program has jumped from
US$13 billion to between US$17 billion to US$20 billion. The needs
associated with the gulf crisis largely entailed activating existing
capacity, which lay unused after output fell in the mid-1980s.
This requirement involved recommissioning nearly 150 wells and
12 GOSPs. By the end of 1990, that effort yielded total sustainable
capacity of 8.8 million bpd. In addition to the war effort, Saudi
Aramco has been involved in bringing on-line a number of GOSPs
in existing and known areas such as As Saffaniyah, Al Uthmaniyah,
and Abqaiq, all in the Eastern Province. Finally, Saudi Aramco
began development of its new light crude oil finds in the central
region, with the expectation that it could produce 150,000 bpd
of Arab Super Light from Al Hawtah field, south of Riyadh. Following
Saudi Aramco's mandate to conduct such activities in the entire
country, it has begun exploration in nontraditional areas such
as the central region and along the Red Sea coast. Prior to the
gulf crisis, AOC and Getty Oil had plans to step up their exploration
and development activity. These have been revised in light of
the damage to existing facilities sustained during the war.
Data as of December 1992
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