Saudi Aramco launches largest shale gas development outside U.S.

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

Saudi Aramco plans to go full tilt on fracking for natural gas, aiming to become the world's number 3 producer of natural gas by 2030. Using sea water for the hydraulic fracturing, and located near Ghawar, the world's largest oilfield. Adding natural gas pipeline infrastructure near Ghawar should be fairly straightforward.

The spat / rivalry with Qatar probably has nothing to do with this natural gas fracking plan. (That's tongue in cheek ...)

Anyway, Saudi Arabia's plans to burn natural gas rather than oil for generating electricity is a good move. It should reduce Saudi Arabia's oil consumption by 800,000 barrels of oil per day, and burn natural gas instead.

 

Saudi Aramco launches largest shale gas development outside U.S.

Saudi Aramco is launching the biggest shale gas development outside of the United States to boost domestic gas supply and end the burning of oil at its power generation plants, Chief Executive Officer Amin Nasser told Reuters on Monday.  ...

 

... Saudi Arabia fought a price war aimed at putting the U.S. shale industry out of business just six years ago, which ultimately failed. Now, the country has adopted the techniques developed in U.S. fields - which started with gas - for the huge $110 billion Jafurah shale gas field project. Aramco said it received the go ahead for the project on Saturday.

If Aramco hits its targets for development of the field, Saudi Arabia would become the world's third largest gas producer by 2030. The world's top two gas producers are the United States and Russia.

Nasser said Aramco had developed fracking using seawater, which will remove the obstacle that a lack of water supply represents to fracking in the desert.  ...

 

... "It is very economical, we were able to really cut the cost significantly to make it commercial," Nasser said. "It is the biggest unconventional (development) outside North America."

The new shale gas development would help the country to reduce burning an average of 800,000 barrels per day of crude and fuel for electricity, Nasser said. That would free up more crude for export if needed, he said, and reduce emissions.

The priority will be to supply domestic demand, Nasser said.  ...

 

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

What is the definition of insanity? Something like doing the same thing and expecting different results.

Has Saudi been paying attention to the US shale oil circus?

 

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

5 minutes ago, Douglas Buckland said:

What is the definition of insanity? Something like doing the same thing and expecting different results.

Has Saudi been paying attention to the US shale oil circus?

 

Saudi Arabia burning natural gas instead of burning oil in order to generate electricity domestically is a good move, in my opinion.

Oil has much better uses than simply burning it to generate electricity for air conditioners.

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

9 minutes ago, Tom Kirkman said:

Saudi Arabia burning natural gas instead of burning oil in order to generate electricity domestically is a good move, in my opinion.

Oil has much better uses than simply burning it to generate electricity for air conditioners.

I agree Tom, but there is the Law of Diminishing Returns with fracturing as regards to production increase (long term) vs money spent.

Saudi Aramco, being a national oil company, will avoid alot of the financial issues seen in the States, but eventually you are simply throwing good money after the bad.

I am not sure how much they flare, but capturing that first may be a good idea.

[Geoff Guenther + 317]

4 hours ago, Douglas Buckland said:

I agree Tom, but there is the Law of Diminishing Returns with fracturing as regards to production increase (long term) vs money spent.

We're getting into sparse history here, but this is my (hugely simplified) take.

Albertans have been doing coal-bed fracturing for decades to extract natural gas and were quite profitable doing it. The technology became quite robust, but it wasn't until the mid 2010's that companies attempted to do the same thing with a liquid. 

The surprise was that the same tech works for both gases and liquids. A shed-load of money was then dumped into wells and exploded creating a temporary surplus of crude which might be worth more or less than the value of the explosive dollars.

In the meantime, gas fracking has become non-viable in North America because we don't have enough LNG terminals to ship excess to places on the globe that could actually use it.

Saudi Arabia sees this gap in the market and is about to exploit it.

[Gerry Maddoux + 3,627]

2 hours ago, Geoff Guenther said:

In the meantime, gas fracking has become non-viable in North America because we don't have enough LNG terminals to ship excess to places on the globe that could actually use it.

Saudi Arabia sees this gap in the market and is about to exploit it.

Geoff, do you realize that we have natural gas coming out our ears? We don't need dry gas fracking, we've got more than enough as an unwanted by-product from shale oil drilling, right close to the Gulf Coast liquefaction/purification trains that are proliferating like rabbits. And S. Korea is turning out new LNG tankers like Higgins boats were turned out during the war. Additionally, the old membrane LNG tankers are being recommissioned as floating offloading terminals anywhere in the world. In five years that's all going to be in place.

Qatar is spreading out--they have more natural gas than any place in the world. Last time I checked they were pretty close to KSA. 

This seems like an idea on par with most of the other recent Saudi ideas--like why don't we whack a journalist--the product of a benighted (spelling intentional) prince with nothing but yes-men around him.

There.is.no.gap.in.the.market.

[Geoff Guenther + 317]

47 minutes ago, Gerry Maddoux said:

Geoff, do you realize that we have natural gas coming out our ears? We don't need dry gas fracking, we've got more than enough as an unwanted by-product from shale oil drilling, right close to the Gulf Coast liquefaction/purification trains that are proliferating like rabbits. And S. Korea is turning out new LNG tankers like Higgins boats were turned out during the war.

I do, but I'm also not one that necessarily worries too much about the short term. A dozen years ago, if we had understood the consequences of oil fracking in North America, we would have been building LNG plants and pipelines to get rid of excesses. 

The Saudis are opening up massive new gas fields because they are looking 10 years down the road at peak oil demand, potential emissions penalties if the don't clean up, and also the fact that they don't want Arabia to become inhabitable.  While they are investing in solar and other tech, they are expanding their gas production and reducing their dependency on oil. 

[NickW + 2,714]

7 hours ago, Douglas Buckland said:

I agree Tom, but there is the Law of Diminishing Returns with fracturing as regards to production increase (long term) vs money spent.

Saudi Aramco, being a national oil company, will avoid alot of the financial issues seen in the States, but eventually you are simply throwing good money after the bad.

I am not sure how much they flare, but capturing that first may be a good idea.

When I was there 2010-2012 there was a plan for Zero flaring by 2025. How far they have got and what their prospects of getting there are anyones guess. 

[ronwagn + 6,290]

10 hours ago, Geoff Guenther said:

We're getting into sparse history here, but this is my (hugely simplified) take.

Albertans have been doing coal-bed fracturing for decades to extract natural gas and were quite profitable doing it. The technology became quite robust, but it wasn't until the mid 2010's that companies attempted to do the same thing with a liquid. 

The surprise was that the same tech works for both gases and liquids. A shed-load of money was then dumped into wells and exploded creating a temporary surplus of crude which might be worth more or less than the value of the explosive dollars.

In the meantime, gas fracking has become non-viable in North America because we don't have enough LNG terminals to ship excess to places on the globe that could actually use it.

Saudi Arabia sees this gap in the market and is about to exploit it.

We are still building export terminals in the South. Canada has a major problem getting the job done. Please tell me how I am wrong. We do have the Panama Canal. 

[ronwagn + 6,290]

16 hours ago, Tom Kirkman said:

Saudi Aramco plans to go full tilt on fracking for natural gas, aiming to become the world's number 3 producer of natural gas by 2030. Using sea water for the hydraulic fracturing, and located near Ghawar, the world's largest oilfield. Adding natural gas pipeline infrastructure near Ghawar should be fairly straightforward.

The spat / rivalry with Qatar probably has nothing to do with this natural gas fracking plan. (That's tongue in cheek ...)

Anyway, Saudi Arabia's plans to burn natural gas rather than oil for generating electricity is a good move. It should reduce Saudi Arabia's oil consumption by 800,000 barrels of oil per day, and burn natural gas instead.

 

Saudi Aramco launches largest shale gas development outside U.S.

Saudi Aramco is launching the biggest shale gas development outside of the United States to boost domestic gas supply and end the burning of oil at its power generation plants, Chief Executive Officer Amin Nasser told Reuters on Monday.  ...

 

... Saudi Arabia fought a price war aimed at putting the U.S. shale industry out of business just six years ago, which ultimately failed. Now, the country has adopted the techniques developed in U.S. fields - which started with gas - for the huge $110 billion Jafurah shale gas field project. Aramco said it received the go ahead for the project on Saturday.

If Aramco hits its targets for development of the field, Saudi Arabia would become the world's third largest gas producer by 2030. The world's top two gas producers are the United States and Russia.

Nasser said Aramco had developed fracking using seawater, which will remove the obstacle that a lack of water supply represents to fracking in the desert.  ...

 

... "It is very economical, we were able to really cut the cost significantly to make it commercial," Nasser said. "It is the biggest unconventional (development) outside North America."

The new shale gas development would help the country to reduce burning an average of 800,000 barrels per day of crude and fuel for electricity, Nasser said. That would free up more crude for export if needed, he said, and reduce emissions.

The priority will be to supply domestic demand, Nasser said.  ...

 

Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, The North Sea, all have large new finds and there are many more to come. It looks to me like the price of natural gas will stay quite low, and it will indeed be difficult for renewables to compete. That is unless the globalist green propagandists can prevent the world from using this clean, inexpensive, superabundant natural resource, and allow oil producers to continue to flare it off. One reason is that they can make more money in the renewables business while charging the customers more. 

[Gerry Maddoux + 3,627]

6 minutes ago, ronwagn said:

Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, The North Sea, all have large new finds and there are many more to come. It looks to me like the price of natural gas will stay quite low

When do they start going broke, Ron?

Read this article by this fellow Rick Cunningham. 

We're getting beat to death. And yes, they firing on their own regiment this time!

Seriously, no one can make a buck at these prices. We have to wallow around down here until the weakest players start falling. If, at that point, the US government decides to subsidize the solar/wind/battery people, we start falling in the trenches, one by one. 

I was dead serious when I proposed a three-month moratorium on oil and gas production. Actually, it was back in December when I proposed it. I still think it's going to come down to that. People who have profited greatly from being warm in the winter time and cool in the summer time, who have had surgeries, take pills, are trying to destroy oil and gas. Okay, let's do a little experiment: stop oil and gas production for three months. Let's see how it goes. I'd love to see it, good or bad. 

But hell, we can't really go on and on about how great natural gas is when most of the articles on this website blast it, many of them written by some fellow from Portland, probably the most liberal place in America. Mr. Cunningham, did your family profit from being warm? Have they enjoyed the benefits of oil and gas? Are you writing this crap for money? Or is your heart in it? 

Hell, let's stop producing oil and gas for three months. See how many people come out of the woodwork. Then, maybe, we can have an honest discussion about how to make some sort of peaceful transition to renewable energy backed up by hydrocarbons. 

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

“I do, but I'm also not one that necessarily worries too much about the short term. A dozen years ago, if we had understood the consequences of oil fracking in North America, we would have been building LNGplants and pipelines to get rid of excesses. “

And if I would have had a crystal ball 12 years ago I would have been retired on a beach somewhere drawing 10% (for you Diehard movie fans...😂).

[ronwagn + 6,290]

6 minutes ago, Gerry Maddoux said:

When do they start going broke, Ron?

Read this article by this fellow Rick Cunningham. 

We're getting beat to death. And yes, they firing on their own regiment this time!

Seriously, no one can make a buck at these prices. We have to wallow around down here until the weakest players start falling. If, at that point, the US government decides to subsidize the solar/wind/battery people, we start falling in the trenches, one by one. 

I was dead serious when I proposed a three-month moratorium on oil and gas production. Actually, it was back in December when I proposed it. I still think it's going to come down to that. People who have profited greatly from being warm in the winter time and cool in the summer time, who have had surgeries, take pills, are trying to destroy oil and gas. Okay, let's do a little experiment: stop oil and gas production for three months. Let's see how it goes. I'd love to see it, good or bad. 

But hell, we can't really go on and on about how great natural gas is when most of the articles on this website blast it, many of them written by some fellow from Portland, probably the most liberal place in America. Mr. Cunningham, did your family profit from being warm? Have they enjoyed the benefits of oil and gas? Are you writing this crap for money? Or is your heart in it? 

Hell, let's stop producing oil and gas for three months. See how many people come out of the woodwork. Then, maybe, we can have an honest discussion about how to make some sort of peaceful transition to renewable energy backed up by hydrocarbons. 

The whole world will eventually have access to inexpensive natural gas. It can be transported by pipeline, truck, rail, and ship. It can be transported as CNG, LNG, or low pressure containers with carbon adsorption. The latter are conformable in shape. They will have to pay whatever price they can afford to get it. It will only compete if they can afford it. Otherwise they will continue to make their own biogas, gather sticks, dung, or whatever they can for cooking and heating. Peat moss is still used in parts of Scandinavia, Russia, Canada, etc. It is very plentiful but labor intensive since it needs to be cut and dried. 

Low priced gasoline and diesel will be preferred because of the hundreds of millions of ICE engines around the world but they could also be adapted to natural gas. 

[Gerry Maddoux + 3,627]

I'm with you, brother! 

LNG is so clean-burning, I just don't get why the whole world hasn't embraced it, particularly china. 

I sell quite a bit of gas. I just wonder how long we can hang on, selling pipeline gas for nothing. 

Since 1950, my family has sold natural gas. It has always been profitable . . . until now. It has always been welcomed in the world . . . until now. 

We're being out-propagandized, that's all. The body politic, when fed enough dung, will start to crave dung. That's where we are. 

We need a three-month moratorium on oil and gas. 

[Rob Kramer + 696]

17 hours ago, Tom Kirkman said:

Saudi Aramco plans to go full tilt on fracking for natural gas, aiming to become the world's number 3 producer of natural gas by 2030. Using sea water for the hydraulic fracturing, and located near Ghawar, the world's largest oilfield. Adding natural gas pipeline infrastructure near Ghawar should be fairly straightforward.

The spat / rivalry with Qatar probably has nothing to do with this natural gas fracking plan. (That's tongue in cheek ...)

Anyway, Saudi Arabia's plans to burn natural gas rather than oil for generating electricity is a good move. It should reduce Saudi Arabia's oil consumption by 800,000 barrels of oil per day, and burn natural gas instead.

 

Saudi Aramco launches largest shale gas development outside U.S.

Saudi Aramco is launching the biggest shale gas development outside of the United States to boost domestic gas supply and end the burning of oil at its power generation plants, Chief Executive Officer Amin Nasser told Reuters on Monday.  ...

 

... Saudi Arabia fought a price war aimed at putting the U.S. shale industry out of business just six years ago, which ultimately failed. Now, the country has adopted the techniques developed in U.S. fields - which started with gas - for the huge $110 billion Jafurah shale gas field project. Aramco said it received the go ahead for the project on Saturday.

If Aramco hits its targets for development of the field, Saudi Arabia would become the world's third largest gas producer by 2030. The world's top two gas producers are the United States and Russia.

Nasser said Aramco had developed fracking using seawater, which will remove the obstacle that a lack of water supply represents to fracking in the desert.  ...

 

... "It is very economical, we were able to really cut the cost significantly to make it commercial," Nasser said. "It is the biggest unconventional (development) outside North America."

The new shale gas development would help the country to reduce burning an average of 800,000 barrels per day of crude and fuel for electricity, Nasser said. That would free up more crude for export if needed, he said, and reduce emissions.

The priority will be to supply domestic demand, Nasser said.  ...

 

Sounds like they are running out of oil or expect others to run out of oil. 

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

3 hours ago, Gerry Maddoux said:

I'm with you, brother! 

LNG is so clean-burning, I just don't get why the whole world hasn't embraced it, particularly china. 

I sell quite a bit of gas. I just wonder how long we can hang on, selling pipeline gas for nothing. 

Since 1950, my family has sold natural gas. It has always been profitable . . . until now. It has always been welcomed in the world . . . until now. 

We're being out-propagandized, that's all. The body politic, when fed enough dung, will start to crave dung. That's where we are. 

We need a three-month moratorium on oil and gas. 

A 3 month moratorium on (production, usage, sales...need to be a little more specific here...) just ain’t going to happen Gerry. As much as I’d like to see something along that line (and possibly go back to work) it would cause chaos within a week.

Decades ago a study was done (need some help here...) about what would happen if grocery stores simply closed up shop. The result (again I may be misleading re the timeframe) was complete anarchy within a fortnight.

A 3 month moratorium on either production of fossil fuels or the usage thereof would definitely wake up those that say we are destroying the planet.

It is all well and good to bitch and moan while the electricity is flowing, the A/C or the heater functions, there is fuel for that damned ICE vehicle in the driveway, the fresh foods, vegetables and meats are not rotting on the shelves at Safeway....and on and on it goes.

[Fred czubba + 15]

Natural Gas will be the bridge to the future and this was discussed quite some time ago when we met with Prof. Moniz -MIT.There are sufficient regions both in the USA ,Canada and Mexico to fuel our economies.Based on enhanced production techniques both on and offshore we should be able to lengthen that time table.Coal gasification as once prototyped by ANG  in North Dakota is also a technology that can produce gas.

Edited February 28, 2020 by Fred czubba

[Fred czubba + 15]

Utilizing Red Sea and Arabian Gulf water for fracking( yikes saltwater)  will require building a massive piping network and lots of electric power.