Aramco awards over $25 billion in contracts for Jafurah gas expansion

(WO) – Aramco has awarded contracts worth more than $25 billion to progress its strategic gas expansion, which targets sales gas production growth of more than 60% by 2030, compared to 2021 levels.

The contracts relate to phase two development of the vast Jafurah unconventional gas field, phase three expansion of Aramco’s Master Gas System, new gas rigs and ongoing capacity maintenance.

Contract awards. Aramco has awarded 16 contracts, worth a combined total of around $12.4 billion, for phase two development at Jafurah. The work will involve construction of gas compression facilities and associated pipelines, expansion of the Jafurah Gas Plant including construction of gas processing trains, and utilities, sulfur and export facilities.

It will also involve construction of Aramco’s new Riyas Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) fractionation facilities in Jubail — including NGL fractionation trains, and utilities, storage and export facilities — to process NGL received from Jafurah.

Another 15 lump sum turnkey contracts, worth a combined total of around $8.8 billion, have been awarded to commence the phase three expansion of the Master Gas System, which delivers natural gas to customers across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The expansion, being conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Energy, will increase the size of the network and raise its total capacity by an additional 3.15 Bcfd by 2028, through the installation of around 4,000 km of pipelines and 17 new gas compression trains.

An additional 23 gas rig contracts worth $2.4 billion have also been awarded, along with two directional drilling contracts worth $612 million. Meanwhile, 13 well tie-in contracts at Jafurah, worth a total of $1.63bn, have been awarded between December 2022 and May 2024.

Progress at Jafurah. The Jafurah unconventional gas field is estimated to contain 229 Tcf of raw gas and 75 billion Stock Tank Barrels of condensate. Phase one of the Jafurah development program, which commenced in November 2021, is progressing on schedule with initial start-up anticipated in the third quarter of 2025.

Aramco expects total overall lifecycle investment at Jafurah to exceed $100 billion and production to reach a sustainable sales gas rate of 2 Bcfd 2030, in addition to significant volumes of ethane, NGL and condensate.

Master Gas System expansion. Aramco’s Master Gas System is an extensive network of pipelines that connects Aramco’s key gas production and processing sites throughout the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Its expansion will increase access to domestic gas supplies for customers in the industrial, utility and other sectors — providing a lower greenhouse gas emission alternative to oil for power generation.

From 1982, the network transported associated gas, also known as “waste gas,” released during oil production, instead of being flared to help mitigate emissions. This pioneering network, which now transports associated gas and sales gas, has helped Aramco achieve near-zero routine gas flaring and maintain a flare volume of less than 1% of total raw gas production since 2012, contributing to the company having one of the lowest upstream carbon intensities in the industry.

Amin H. Nasser, Aramco President & CEO, said, “These contract awards demonstrate our firm belief in the future of gas as an important energy source, as well as a vital feedstock for downstream industries.”

“The scale of our ongoing investment at Jafurah and the expansion of our Master Gas System underscores our intention to further integrate and grow our gas business to meet anticipated rising demand. This complements the diversification of our portfolio, creates new employment opportunities, and supports the Kingdom’s transition towards a lower-emission power grid, in which gas and renewables gradually displace liquids-based power generation.”