Saudi Aramco is planning to execute two new projects by the end of the decade to boost the kingdom's oil production. Currently, Saudi Arabia is pumping slightly less than 9 million barrels per day (bpd), the head of the state-run oil company said.
Speaking at the Oil Summit of the Cambridge Energy Research Association's Annual Conference (CERA Week 2005), organized in Houston, chief executive officer and president Abdallah Jumah said Saudi Aramco was in talks with prospective partners over a new export-oriented refinery.
Jumah reiterated that Aramco's Khursaniyah project would reach 500,000 bpd production in 2007 and that output from its Khurais oilfield was likely to total more than 1 million bpd before the end of the decade, closer to 2009.
These two projects form the cornerstone of the kingdom's bid to raise production capacity to 12.5 million bpd to satisfy growing world demand.
"We have developed a plan to build, at least initially, an export refinery in the kingdom. And we are now talking to many prospective venturers," Jumah said.
He did not say which companies Aramco was considering for the plant, but said last month that Indian firms could be invited to participate in a new 400,000-bpd plant.
