Saudi Arabia has been clear about the role natural gas will play in its energy future. As Aramco’s EVP for Strategy and Corporate development said late last year, natural gas is no longer viewed merely as a transitional fuel; it is now considered a permanent fixture in the energy landscape. With a key role to play in Vision 2030, gas is increasingly central to powering industry in KSA, supporting petrochemicals growth, and reducing reliance on liquid fuels for domestic power generation (MEES, 9 January).
Across the wider Middle East, we see a similar picture unfolding. The region is experiencing the fastest growth in gas output globally, with production expected to more than double, from around 45bn cfd in 2010 to nearly 98bn cfd by 2030. And Saudi Arabia stands at the forefront of this expansion. Major developments such as the Jafurah unconventional gas development, the Fadhili Gas Plant, and ongoing investments across the southern gas system, including Haradh, Hawiyah and related natural gas facilities, highlight both the scale and the urgency of the Kingdom’s gas ambitions.
This growth brings opportunity, but it also introduces a less comfortable reality. Gas infrastructure across the region is becoming more asset-intensive, more technically complex, and increasingly exposed to corrosion risk. Many of these projects operate under highly aggressive conditions, sour (H2S) and sweet (CO₂) gas streams, and demanding operating envelopes, leaving critical equipment at risk of wear and damage. These major developments and expansion ambitions cannot be achieved if equipment is not performing as designed, or worse, is failing.
FUTURE-PROOFED EXPANSION STARTS WITH PROTECTING EXISTING ASSETS
In the pursuit of expansion, it can be tempting to focus on new, high profile greenfield developments such as Jafurah. These projects are undeniably critical - greenfield investments are needed to meet Saudi Arabia’s long term gas ambitions. But operators must be careful not to neglect the existing foundations of gas infrastructure. If attention shifts too heavily towards new assets without safeguarding what’s already in place, productivity and profitability can leak from the assets operators already rely on, ultimately undermining the value of greenfield expansion itself. This need is intensified where older brownfield sites are more exposed to equipment degradation and integrity risks. We see this even in relatively young sites too, such as the Fadhili Gas Plant, commissioned in 2018.
At Fadhili, the scale alone introduced challenges. In 2024, the plant was expanded to enhance processing capacity from 2.5bn cfd to up to 4bn cfd, supporting Aramco’s strategy to augment gas production by more than 60% by 2030. Scale here is not only about output, but also about infrastructure. Sixty-inch pipelines, almost 1.8 metres in diameter, were constructed using stainless steel for this project.
While stainless steel is often seen as a corrosion solution, welding remains the weakest link in any pipeline system. Heat affected zones are inherently vulnerable, and under high pressure and aggressive operating conditions, they can become initiation points for cracking and corrosion far earlier than anticipated. In a system of this size, even small integrity issues can translate into significant production and efficiency losses, with knock-on costs that ripple across the entire value chain and can materially slow output before it has even properly got started.
In this case, an alloy thermal spray was applied locally at the weld areas, creating a protective metallurgical barrier. Crucially, this approach did not just solve a short-term integrity concern, it embedded protection across the lifecycle of the asset. As new welds are introduced over time, the same principle applies.
ASSET INTEGRITY FOR A MORE DEMANDING OPERATING ENVIRONMENT
Zooming in, the challenge shifts from structure to substance. This is where sour gas – highly prevalent in Saudi Arabia - enters the equation. Rich in H₂S, it places extreme demands on infrastructure from the moment gas reaches the surface. Here, corrosion risk significantly heightens, leading to increased frequency of inspections, major pressure on turnaround schedules, and shortening of maintenance cycles. Over time, that erodes efficiency across the system.
The first line of defence is the slug catcher at the receiving end of the gas processing plant. In Saudi Arabia, these are typically large vessel slug catchers, designed to regulate flow and separate liquids from gas, operating in some of the most corrosive conditions across the value chain. Traditionally protected with organic linings, these large vessels, particularly at the bottom of pipelines where liquids settle, have long been recognised as high-risk environments. As a result, operators across the region are reassessing and adopting high-velocity thermal spray (HVTS®) within finger slug catchers, strengthening internal metallurgy rather than relying solely on organic barriers that degrade over time. This allows corrosion to be addressed at its most aggressive point.
But corrosion does not disappear once the gas is treated. As it moves through sweetening and processing systems designed to remove sulphur, materials remain exposed to aggressive conditions. Across Saudi Arabia’s southern gas plants, Uthmaniyah, Harradh, Hawiyah and multiple NGL facilities, maintaining asset integrity in columns and vessels has proven essential to keeping operations running reliably. Metallurgical protection such as HVTS® have proven effective precisely because they are non-reactive to the operating environment. Whether the gas is sweet or sour, the coating acts as a barrier between the process and the asset.
Once gas reaches final processing and refining stages, the challenges evolve again, but they never disappear. As exploration moves deeper and reservoirs become more complex, gas streams are increasingly CO₂ rich. Even at facilities such as Haradh, where sour gas is less of a concern, CO₂ corrosion – caused by sweet gas - remains a threat. Here again, barrier-based metallurgical protection has demonstrated its value, remaining inert as operating environment shifts chemically over time.
DELIVERING GAS AMBITIONS THROUGH ASSET RESILIENCE
With all this in mind, we see the industry at an inflection point. While Saudi Arabia’s gas ambitions are redefining the scale and complexity of energy infrastructure across the Kingdom, success will hinge not only on reserves and capacity, but on the resilience of the assets that carry, process and refine it.
What is increasingly clear is that conventional protection strategies in existing assets are no longer sufficient for today’s operating environments. High pressures, sour gas, rising CO₂ exposure and evolving process conditions demand approaches that are capable of enduring decades of operation. Metallurgical barrier technologies offer a way to protect critical infrastructure at its most vulnerable points, reduce unplanned downtime, and preserve asset lifetime value as operating conditions change over time.
Natural gas may sit at the heart of the Kingdom’s long-term energy strategy, but it is asset integrity that will ultimately determine how efficiently, reliably and profitably that future is delivered.
*Dennis Snijders, Director Middle East & North Africa at IGS
