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According to Reuters, Aramco is targeting the project to boost domestic gas supplies and end burning oil at its power plants.
The world's largest crude exporter has been defending for years the market share in the face of expanding shale oil producers in the United States, which in just ten years had the ability to pump millions of barrels of oil per day from rock formations that were once too costly to exploit.
Saudi Arabia fought a price war aimed at taking the US shale oil sector out of the market only six years ago, but ultimately failed. Now, the country is adopting technologies developed in the US fields - which started with gas - in the giant gas field project Jafurah, whose investments are estimated at $ 110 billion. Aramco said it obtained a green light for the project on Saturday.
And if Aramco achieves the field development goals, Saudi Arabia will become the third largest gas producer in the world by 2030. The largest gas producers in the world are the United States and Russia.
Al-Nasser told Reuters that Aramco has devised a method of cracking with sea water, which will overcome the obstacle of a lack of water needed for cracking in the desert.
He said in an interview in the eastern region, where the center of oil production in Saudi Arabia, a new rocky revolution is taking place (in Saudi Arabia), it is commercially feasible and we use sea water.
Many said that the idea would not work outside the United States ... because cracking uses a lot of water and we do not have abundant water. But we use sea water.
He explained that Aramco has drilled 150 wells since 2013 in the Jafoura shale gas field to prepare the development plan.
The Saudi National Oil Group has worked with global oil services companies such as Schlumberger, Halliburton and Baker Hughes of America on the field and to develop the technology of rock crushing and the extraction of oil and gas trapped in it, in what is known as cracking technology. These companies are active in US shale oil fields.
Al-Nasser said that Aramco will offer tours to award the field business contracts, and the companies themselves and others will likely participate.
Outside the United States, oil companies have had little success in exploiting rock reserves for various reasons - either due to lack of experience, water scarcity or other resources, inadequate infrastructure or spatial proximity to large populations.
The Al-Jafurah field is located near the Gulf coast, so sea water can be connected to it relatively easily, but it will have to be treated somewhat before being used in drilling, Al-Nasser said. It is also close to goo ...
