Saudi Arabia is surging ahead with mega projects in both the upstream and downstream sector to boost its position as a top player in the global oil and gas arena.

The kingdom will continue to bolster its output capacity to quell global shortages, Oil Minister Ali Al Naimi said.
Saudi Arabia plans to boost production capacity from 11 million barrels per day to 12.5 million bpd by 2009.
"We will continue to be a source of stability for world energy markets," Naimi said. "We are addressing the problem of availability head-on."
Saudi Arabia has plans at home, in Asia and the US to expand refining capacity and petrochemical production, Naimi said.
Once those projects are in place over the next five years, Saudi Arabia will see its refining capacity rise by 50 per cent, he said.
The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud wound up his visit to China after signing several economic agreements and making a pledge to establish closer ties with Chinese officials.
Saudi Arabia would like to invest in crude storage tanks on the southern Chinese island of Hainan, it was reported.
The kingdom is already the largest supplier of oil imports to China, and the visit will likely strengthen ties -- with analysts eyeing refineries as a key area for investment.
At present there are relatively few plants in China which can process heavy Saudi crude, limiting the market for the oil.
King Abdullah also made a historic visit to India during his landmark Asia trip.
India and Saudi Arabia agreed to enter into a strategic energy partnership based on "complementarity and interdependence" that would ensure increased crude supplies and formation of joint ventures in upstream and downstream projects.
In an agreement, called the 'Delhi Declaration' signed by King Abdullah and Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, the two sides have agreed to ensure "reliable stable and increased" volume of crude oil supplies through "evergreen" long-term contracts.
While the Saudis have agreed to increase investments in India in oil refining, marketing and creation of storage facilities, it has also been agreed that the two sides would cooperate in setting up ventures for gas-based fertiliser plants in Saudi Arabia.
The joint ventures between Indian and Saudi companies would be both in the public and the private sectors and projects could be set up in third countries as well.
Saudi Arabia is pressing ahead on its ambitious oil expansion scheme and stepping up exploration to meet future demand, the head of Saudi Aramco said.
The kingdom has plans in train to boost production capacity from 11 million barrels per day (bpd) to 12.5 million bpd by 2009. It has been pumping about 9.5 million bpd of crude for months running.
"Everything is on track," said Abdullah Jum'ah, Chief Executive and President of Saudi Aramco.
"Whatever we promised, we are going to deliver. It's on budget and on track," he said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
And the kingdom's exploration efforts would be stepped up to meet future oil demand.
"I think given the demand...that will be placed on us, it's only natural that we would," said Jum'ah.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia will go forward with plans to expand oil production despite US goals of cutting dependence on crude from the Middle East, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the US said.
"We have already put into motion plans to increase our production to 12.5 million barrels per day," Prince Turki Al Faisal said. "That expansion is going forward without any hesitation."    
Saudi Arabia currently pumps around 9.42 million bpd and is the largest Middle Eastern supplier of US oil imports, accounting for about 15 per cent of foreign shipments.
Foster Wheeler Ltd announced that its subsidiaries Foster Wheeler Energy Limited and Foster Wheeler Arabia, Ltd have been awarded an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract by Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Company (PETRORabigh) for the utilities and offsites of PETRORabigh's world-scale, integrated refining and petrochemical complex at Rabigh.
PETRORabigh is a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical Co Limited. The Foster Wheeler contract value was not disclosed and the project will be included in the company's first-quarter 2006 bookings.
Saudi Arabia plans to produce an additional 300,000 bpd of Arab Light crude from April this year, Naimi said.
"Come April we will put an additional 300,000 bpd of Arab Light on the market, and we are confident of our schedule," Naimi said.
Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) reported a record 2005 net profit of SR19.2 billion ($5.11 billion) compared to SR14.2 billion in 2004, an increase of 35 per cent.
The net profits in the fourth quarter of 2005 were SR4.5 billion.
"Sabic's profits in 2005 were the highest ever reported, exceeding the previous record profits reported in 2004 by 35 per cent," said Sabic Vice Chairman and CEO Mohamed Al-Mady.
"This is due to price increases in major products, a rise in overall production capacity to 46.7 million tonnes (nine per cent increase) and an increase in overall sales to 36.6 million tonnes, a nine per cent increase over 2004," he said.
The fourth quarter of 2005 experienced six per cent decrease in profits compared to the profits in the third quarter due to the difference in prices of some raw materials from different periods which have been charged to the fourth quarter, he said.
Al-Mady praised key successes in 2005 including the Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings assigning of Sabic a Corporate Credit Rating of A, the offering of Yansab shares for public subscription, the completion of the Fanar project in the third quarter of 2005 and the new United affiliate operating with full capacity, thus adding more value to the company's overall performance.
Al-Mady added that expansion projects currently under way are progressing on track and most of them are expected to be completed by the end of 2008.
Sabic has signed a contract with Technip Italy for the engineering, procurement and construction of a 1.3 million tonnes per year (tpy) ethylene and propylene plant at the Yansab Complex in Yanbu Industrial City.
Sabic said it also signed a contract Toyo Engineering Corp of Japan for the engineering, procurement and construction of an ethylene glycol plant at the same site.
Sabic has also signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with US Shaw Stone & Webster for the engineering, procurement and construction of a high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant at the Yansab affiliate, Yanbu.
In another development, McDermott Arabia Company (MACL), a subsidiary of J Ray McDermott, SA, has been awarded two turnkey contracts by Al Khafji Joint Operations (KJO), to provide engineering, procurement, construction and installation services for KJO developments in the Arabian Gulf.
The first contract is for an integrated wellhead jacket (IWJ) in the Al Khafji oilfield offshore Saudi Arabia. The second contract will see J Ray support the expansion of KJO's loading facilities in the offshore Neutral Zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
J Ray McDermott Middle East Inc, and McDermott Arabia Company Ltd, subsidiaries of J Ray McDermott, SA have been awarded work by Saudi Aramco to fabricate, transport, and install 16 additional jackets for the Maintain Potential project for the Berri, Marjan, Maharah, Safaniya, and Zuluf fields, offshore Saudi Arabia.
The work is an extension to the contract J Ray won in August last year to fabricate and install five wellhead platforms for the Maintain Potential project.
Saudi Aramco expects to shortlist foreign partners for Ras Tanura's expansion and upgrade in the first half of this year, a company executive said.
The oil giant is seeking international partners for Ras Tanura, the kingdom's oldest and largest refinery, for a capacity upgrade and conversion into petrochemicals capacity.
Saudi Aramco will also increase the number of development wells it drills this year by 61 per cent, as it tries to raise production capacity to meet global demand.
The company, which has already announced plans to double its drilling rig fleet between 2004 and 2006, said in a statement the increases were part of "an unprecedented corporate push to help meet burgeoning global demand".
In another development, oil has begun flowing through Saudi Arabia's Haradh oil and gas separation plant, a key project in the kingdom's plans to expand its crude production capacity, Saudi Aramco said.
Haradh oil production will reach peak output of 300,000 bpd during the second quarter, Saudi Aramco said.
"In a record 21 months from approval of funding, oil started flowing through the new Haradh gas-oil separation plant (GOSP) from several of 32 new wells that will feed the facility," a statement said.
"When fully onstream in the second quarter of 2006, the plant will produce 300,000 barrels of Arabian Light crude oil per day and 140 million standard cubic feet per day of associated gas," it added.
Saudi Arabia has also started construction of its Hawiyah Natural Gas Liquids project which will boost production of ethane and NGLs, Saudi Aramco said.
"These facilities are vital for supporting the energy flow, both to the kingdom and the world," Ali Al Ajmi, vice president of project management said
The project will provide petrochemical feedstock to the industrial cities of Jubail and Yanbu. The Hawiyah NGL recovery programme will produce 310,000 barrels of ethane and NGL products by 2008, through the Hawiyah plant and an expansion of the Juaymah gas fractionation plant near Ras Tanura.