SAUDI ARAMCO started operating its gas facilities in Khursaniyah with a total capacity of 1.8 billion cubic feet of gas daily in May this year ahead of schedule by several weeks to meet local demand.

With the full operation of this facility, the second phase of Karan gas field development programme is now complete.

The facility includes a gas treatment unit and another unit for removing carbon.

In the middle of 2011, Aramco launched the first phase of the Karan gas project in the Arabian Gulf. It aims at pumping gas through underground pipes to gas treatment plants in Khursaniyah. The Karan gas field, which was discovered in 2006, is located 160 km north of the company’s headquarters in Dhahran. It was designed to produce 1.8 billion cubic feet of gas by 2013.

The new gas supply will be a qualitative addition to the kingdom’s main gas network, the company says, adding that it would strengthen Aramco’s position as a dependable energy supplier.

It will increase gas supply for electricity and desalination plants and basic industries and save consumption of thousands of barrels of oil and oil products, the company adds. The operation and production of the new facility would be conducted following high safety standard, and its facilities will be run by qualified Saudi engineers.

Saudi Aramco appointed Saudis to carry out the executive and operational activities of Karan gas field. As a result, the project helped in creating jobs for a large number of Saudis after getting necessary training on the hi-tech facility. The treatment plant at Khursaniyah is designed to handle non-associated gas.

There are three production platforms and a connecting platform. The fourth platform has been operational from the third quarter of this year.