Haradh-3 Oil Plant Opened - KSA  

JEDDAH, 23 March 2006 — Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Ali Al-Naimi yesterday inaugurated the Haradh-3 plant, 280 km southwest of Dhahran, which adds 300,000 barrels to Saudi Arabia's production capacity.

Speaking to reporters after the inauguration, Al-Naimi disclosed the government's intent to maintain at least 1.5 million barrels a day of spare production capacity to guarantee its role as trustworthy supplier to the world.

He said the $500-million Haradh project, which was completed in January this year had increased the Kingdom's capacity to 11.3 million barrels per day. Saudi Arabia currently pumps 9.5 million barrels per day into the global market of 85 million barrels per day (bpd).

"Saudi Arabia aims to become a trustworthy supplier. We want global stability," the minister said. "Part of this commitment is to maintain... not less than 1.5 million bpd of surplus production capacity to meet growing demand or cover unexpected shortage in supply."

Al-Naimi did not see any let up in increasing consumption of oil despite the historically high cost of the fuel.

"Price levels are not harming economic growth... From now to 2030, demand on oil is expected to grow by 50 percent," he said.

The minister said he expected the Kingdom's production capacity to reach 12.5 million bpd in 2009. To meet this output target, he said the Khursaniyah oilfield is to pump 500,000 bpd this year, Shaybah and Nuayyim are expected to add 350,000 bpd in 2008 and the Khurais oilfield is set to produce 1.2 million bpd in 2009.

He also disclosed plans to offer 25 percent of PETRORabigh, a $9.8 billion refinery and petrochemical complex, some 200 km north of Jeddah, in an initial public offering sometime this year. "The first IPO will be the PETRORabigh... and the IPO hopefully will be before the end of this year," he said. Al-Naimi suggested that there could be other energy-sector share offerings on the Saudi stock market, the Arab world's largest bourse.

Ali Al-Ajami, vice president for project management at Saudi Aramco, said the Haradh project had been completed ahead of schedule.

In addition to its maximum production capacity of 300,000 bpd of Arabian light crude, Haradh-3 has a gas-processing capacity of 140 million standard cubic feet per day of associated gas, Saudi Aramco said in a statement.

Nearly 160 kilometers of new pipeline and extensions were constructed to transport crude and gas products to processing facilities in Abqaiq and Uthmaniyah, further north, the company added.