State oil giant Saudi Aramco is considering expanding its oil and gas production from the Berri offshore oilfield, industry sources told Reuters.
Aramco would over time add 250,000 barrels per day of crude oil from Berri, possibly by building drilling islands offshore in the Gulf, while also processing higher-pressure associated gas for sweetening in Khursaniyah, the sources said to Reuters.
Low-pressure gas would be sent to the Berri gas plant in Jubail, which will be expanded under a programme to recover more natural gas liquids (NGL) and sulphur.
Aramco has invited companies to bid for several packages of front-end engineering and design work on the project, which one source estimated could cost $6bn.
Two sources told Reuters the estimated cost of the gas plant expansion is approximately $1.7bn.
Front-end engineering typically takes as long as a year to complete from the day of the award of contracts.
