Saudi-listed firm Arabian Drilling has secured new contracts for three land-rigs from Saudi Aramco’s Unconventional Program. The contract award underlines that Aramco is still pursuing a capital-intensive upstream program despite last week announcing that it had halted plans to expand crude oil production by 1mn b/d (MEES, 2 February).
Chief among Aramco’s remaining upstream plans is an ambition to increase gas production capacity by more than 50% by 2030. Central to this is the development of two unconventional gas projects – Jafurah Basin which is to produce 2bn cfd by 2030 and South Ghawar, which reached first gas late last year (MEES, 17 November 2023). (CONTINUED - 134 WORDS)