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Saudi Arabia
Hydrocarbon Sector Transport and Storage Facilities
Pipelines usually provided the easiest and most efficient means
of transporting oil and gas products. Expansion of the pipeline
system was the major prerequisite for increased crude oil production
and exports, for use of associated and nonassociated gas, and
for increased refining and distribution of products. Saudi Arabia
had four major pipelines serving the crucial transport needs of
the country's hydrocarbon sector. In the 1980s and early 1990s,
pipeline construction and expansion have been motivated by security
concerns stemming from the two major wars fought in the gulf rather
than for economic reasons. Therefore, development efforts have
concentrated on moving crude oil, products, and export terminals
to the western part of the country.
Two of the major crude oil pipelines crossing Saudi Arabia have
been shut down. The Trans-Arabian Pipeline (Tapline), built in
the 1950s to export oil to the Lebanese port of Az Zahrani on
the Mediterranean Sea, ceased operations after the onset of the
Lebanese civil war in the 1970s. Whereas small quantities of oil
continued to be shipped to the Az Zarqa refinery in Jordan, this
operation was also terminated in September 1990 as a result of
Jordan's stance in the Persian Gulf War and its inability to meet
Saudi Arabia's payment terms. The second pipeline that has been
closed runs from the southern Iraqi border town of Az Zubayr to
Saudi export terminals on the Red Sea. The Iraqis built the pipeline
in two sections: the first, IPSA 1, was originally a spur to Petroline,
Saudi Arabia's main oil transport artery, which allowed access
to Petroline for further transport of Iraqi crude oil on to Yanbu,
the second, IPSA built to parallel Petroline, ended at the export
terminal at Ras al Muajjis near Yanbu. This pipe, with capacity
to transport more than 1.6 million bpd, opened in January 1990,
but closed in August 1990 after the UN ordered an embargo on Iraqi
exports. Moreover, the pipeline's two pump stations in southern
Iraq suffered heavy damage during the Persian Gulf War.
Petroline runs from Abqaiq to Yanbu. Built in 1981 with the capacity
to move more than 1.8 million bpd of crude oil, Petroline was
expanded to handle 3.2 million bpd in 1987. The expansion consisted
of laying a new pipeline parallel to the original. Further development
plans call for additional capacity to raise overall throughput
to 4.5 million bpd. This project will give Saudi Aramco greater
flexibility to move different grades of crude oil to its western
export terminals. Security concerns have largely motivated this
expansion because the kingdom's foreign customers have shown less
enthusiasm for lifting crude oil from the Red Sea port as a result
of the higher cost of cargoes. Consequently, the actual carriage
from Petroline has averaged only 1.5 million bpd. Saudi Arabia's
other major pipeline is the east-west NGL pipeline. This pipe
runs from Shadqam to Yanbu, again parallel to Petroline, and can
transport 270,000 bpd of NGL. Given the problems associated with
the gas-gathering system, original plans to expand the pipeline
to 490,000 bpd were shelved. Finally, a smaller pipeline, built
in the 1940s, runs from Saudi Aramco's facilities in the Eastern
Province to the refinery on Bahrain, transporting approximately
200,000 bpd of crude oil.
The kingdom had three main export terminals for crude oil with
a number of smaller facilities closer to production units. The
export terminals at Ras Tanura on the Persian Gulf were the largest
in the world. Designed to export crude oil and LPG, the facilities
included two piers and one sea island with a total of eighteen
berths, which can accommodate ships of up to 550,000 deadweight
tons (dwt). The facilities also included a tank farm with total
storage capacity of 33 million barrels. Also on the Persian Gulf,
thirty-three kilometers north of Ras Tanura, is the port of Al
Juaymah. Tankers of up to 700,000 dwt could be accommodated at
its six single-point moorings. Up to 4 million bpd of crude oil
could be exported from Al Juaymah. Two additional berths were
designed to export 200,000 cubic meters of LPG. Tank farm storage
facilities had a capacity of 17.5 million barrels. The third Persian
Gulf export terminal at Az Zuluf, located sixty-four kilometers
offshore, served the Az Zuluf and Al Marjan fields with one single-point
mooring.
AOC and Getty Oil operated two other Persian Gulf ports in the
Divided Zone. AOC had four berths with varying capabilities located
almost five and eleven kilometers offshore at Al Khafji. Offshore
facilities at Mina Saud, managed by Getty Oil, serviced ships
at shallower berths.
In 1981 Saudi Arabia opened the Red Sea port of Yanbu. Consisting
of three offshore crude-oil berths, the port could handle tankers
up to 550,000 dwt. In the early 1990s, total crude oil loading
capacity stood at 2.6 million bpd with storage facilities holding
as much as 6 million barrels. LPG export facilities included two
berths that served ships with 200,000- cubic-meter capacity. By
the end of 1992, expansion plans called for adding a fourth crude-oil
berth that would increase the port's overall loading capacity
to 3.9 million bpd. Connected to the IPSA 2 pipeline was the Red
Sea port of Ras al Muajjis, south of Yanbu. Farther south at Rabigh,
Saudi Arabia was completing a small port to serve the refinery.
Nine berths capable of handling ships up to 312,000 dwt were under
construction in 1992.
Both Saudi Aramco and Samarec maintained a fleet of tankers to
export crude oil and products. In 1992 Saudi Arabia controlled
forty-three vessels with a combined displacement of 7 million
dwt. Vela Marine International, Saudi Aramco's shipping subsidiary,
had twenty-eight ships in its fleet, of which it owned six and
chartered the rest. Samarec's fleet consisted of fifteen ships,
including four small crude-oil tankers and eleven clean-product
tankers. Expansion plans in the early 1990s called for Vela Marine
International to acquire twenty-one additional vessels at a projected
cost of US$2 billion. In addition to the six very large crude
carriers (VLCCs), each with a capacity of 280,000 dwt under construction
in the early 1990s, Vela planned to add nine VLCCs and eight ultra-large
crude carriers (ULCCs), each with a capacity of 350,000 dwt. The
expansion of the fleet resulted from Saudi Aramco's desire to
move as much as 70 percent of its crude exports on its own tankers,
thereby reducing transport costs. Moreover, it sought marketing
flexibility and floating storage facilities so as to improve the
market balance of supply and demand.
Data as of December 1992
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