RIYADH: Saudi Aramco discovered two new oil and gas fields in the north of the country, the kingdom’s energy minister said yesterday.
The fields, Hadabat Al Hajarah and Abraq Al Talul, are located in the northern Al Jouf region, which borders Jordan, according to a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency.
The Hadabat Al Hajrah field, located east of Sakaka, is estimated to have a flow rate of 16 million standard cubic feet of gas per day in addition to nearly 1,944 barrels per day of condensate.
The Abraq Al Talul discovery is expected to hold “unconventional super light Arabian oil” as well as flow rates of 1.1 million cubic feet per day of gas and 3,189 bpd of condensate, the SPA cited energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman as saying.
Another reservoir, Al Qawara, has a rate of 2.4 million cubic feet per day of gas and associated condensate.
Saudi Aramco is continuing its work on “assessing the quantities of oil, gas and condensate in the two fields, in addition to digging more wells to determine the area and size of the two fields,” Prince Abdulaziz said.
Saudi Arabia has the second-largest proven deposits for oil, after Venezuela, accounting for 17.2 per cent of total global reserves. The kingdom, however, has relatively smaller gas reservoirs, which make up about three per cent of proven reserves.
The new fields are located along Saudi Arabia’s prominent wind corridors, where work is underway to build the country’s first ever wind power plant. The $302 billion Sakaka power plant is being built in the northern Al Jouf region using an independent power producer model.
Saudi has also earmarked its northern region for the $500bn futuristic city of Neom, which straddles the Jordanian and Egyptian borders. The city will house a number of future energy projects, including a $5bn green hydrogen plant announced last month.
The latest gas discoveries will come as a relief for Saudi Arabia’s power grid, which has in recent years switched to the cleaner fuel as an alternative to burning crude.
The world’s largest oil-exporter has started tapping into its unconventional gas reserves for domestic power requirements.
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