07/06/2011
Saudi Aramco sees Karan gas project complete by 2012
State oil giant Saudi Aramco said on Monday it will complete its first offshore non-associated gas field project, Karan, by 2012.
Aramco had previously said it expected work on Karan to be completed in 2013 with the capacity to process 1.8 billion cubic feet per day (cfd) of gas.
"When fully operational in 2012, the project will produce 1.8 billion scfd (standard cfd) of raw gas," Aramco said, adding initial production of 400 million cfd of gas "planned during peak summer demand (will be) starting in 2011", in line with previous announcements while output of unprocessed gas was expected to be 1.5 billion cfd by 2012.
Aramco said it produced 9.4 billion cfd of gas in 2010, up from 8.6 billion cfd in 2009.
The state-owned company continues to focus on raising gas output to meet rising domestic demand for power and petrochemicals.
It is now building two major gas projects, Wasit and Shaybah natural gas liquids (NGL), which should both be completed in 2014.
Domestic demand for gas in the world's largest oil exporter is growing 5-6 percent annually.
