Saudi Arabia is moving ahead with the expansion of its giant Khurais oilfield but the project would move slower than originally planned, Reuters reports.
Since global oil prices fell sharply last year, Saudi Aramco has slowed some projects because of budgetary reasons, shelving less important ones and asking for discounts on some contracts which it had awarded.
The project plans to raise Khurais’ output by 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 1.5mn bpd, and allow it to produce 143mn standard cubic feet per day of associated gas and 34,000 bpd of natural gas liquids.
The original time frame to complete the expansion was 2017. However, industry sources told Reuters in September that Khurais expansion was delayed.
Now Saudi-based industry sources say Khurais expansion is still on but will take longer than expected, with possible completion in 2018.
“Khurais is going ahead but not as fast because of the budget,” one industry source said.
Another source said Aramco was trying to get a better deal from contractors but the project was not on hold.
When the expansion plans for Khurais were first announced, officials said it would not add to Saudi Arabia’s oil production capacity of 12.5mn bpd but merely compensate for declining and ageing oilfields.
This plan has not changed, the industry sources said.
