The development of the Jafurah unconventional gas field is one of the most ambitious projects in Aramco’s history.
Here are five facts you need to know:
- Jafurah is the largest liquid-rich — containing condensates and Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) — shale gas play in the Middle East. Beneath its basin lies an estimated 200 trillion scf of natural gas — which can help reduce emissions and provide feedstock for lower-carbon future fuels.
- Covering an area of approximately 17,000 km2, the Jafurah basin creates a unique opportunity for Aramco to build a large-scale project that aims to contribute to the energy transition.
- $10 billion of contracts are already in place to develop the initial phase of the project. When completed, the Jafurah facility aims to ensure the reliable delivery of natural gas and condensates through a dedicated surface network. This network includes a gas processing plant, an NGL fractionation plant, a gas-compression system, and a network of around 1,500 kilometers of main transfer pipelines, flow lines, and gas-gathering pipelines.
- The first development phase for the Jafurah gas plant is likely to come on stream by 2025. Aramco said it is progressing with the phased development of a project that will reach a raw gas processing capacity of 3.1 Bcf.
- The full field development of Jafurah is expected to reach a production capacity of 2 Bcfd by 2030, lifting the company’s overall gas production capacity by 50% in the same time frame.The huge Jafurah project “will provide feedstock for hydrogen and ammonia production and will help meet expected growing local energy demand”, Aramco noted.