In a milestone for the company and the Saudi energy sector, Aramco in November last year announced successful production of the first unconventional tight gas from its South Ghawar operational area.

The development, coming two months ahead of schedule, supports Aramco’s strategy to increase gas production by more than half, over 2021 levels, through 2030, subject to domestic demand.

Commissioned facilities at South Ghawar have a 300 million standard cu ft per day (scfd) of raw gas processing capacity and 38,000 barrels per day (bpd) of processing capacity. In response to growing demand for gas, the company will continue its work to more than double the overall processing capacity in order to achieve South Ghawar’s strategic goal of delivering 750 million scfd of raw gas in the near future, it said.

Nasir Al-Naimi, Aramco Upstream President, said: "This first production of unconventional tight gas from South Ghawar is a milestone that demonstrates real progress on our gas expansion strategy, which we believe has a role to play in meeting the Kingdom’s needs for lower-emission energy and supporting growth in the chemicals sector. The ability to commence production two months ahead of schedule and below budget is testament to the unwavering dedication of our people and their determination to continuously enhance our Upstream operations."

Successful production of tight sand gas at South Ghawar represents Aramco’s second unconventional gas stream, after production commenced at the North Arabia field in 2018 with the delivery of 240 million scfd to customers in Wa’ad Al-Shamal. Work is simultaneously progressing at the giant Jafurah unconventional gas field, which is the largest liquid-rich shale gas play in the Middle East.