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Aramco plans to increase natural gas production by 64 percent to 24 billion cubic meters a day, up from 14 billion today, said Amin Nbader, chief executive of the company, at an industry event in Dubai. S & P Global Platts.
Natural gas is one of Aramco's top priorities for the future, as well as downstream crude oil production, with a focus on petrochemicals.
The company will invest about 160 billion US dollars to increase its natural gas production, Nbader said, as part of a larger investment program of 500 billion US dollars for the next decade. Natural gas production capacity will increase to 25 billion cubic meters.
The company will pursue both conventional gas projects and unconventional projects, added the manager. Earlier this year, Aramco began producing unconventional gas on the North Arabian field. Production of the field is expected to increase from 55 million cubic feet per day to 190 million cubic feet per day by the end of this year.
As part of its gas projects, Aramco signed this month a prospecting and production agreement with Adnoc, covering both natural gas and LNG. According to the terms of the agreement, the two companies will consider investment opportunities in LNG, said the two companies at the time.
Nbader announced yesterday that Aramco has allocated a total of $ 500 billion in investment for its international expansion and diversification over the next ten years. In addition to the $ 160 billion dedicated to natural gas, the company would also spend $ 100 billion developing its petrochemical business. In addition to the $ 70 billion, Aramco is expected to pay for a majority stake in the Saudi-based petrochemical group Sabic.
The company also plans to increase its refining capacity to 8-10 million barrels a day, the managing director added, "to create a better balance between our upstream and downstream segments".
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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