The Middle East's liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) production will see substantial growth by the end of the decade, but this may be soaked up by rising regional demand from natural gas and petrochemical producers, a Saudi Aramco official said.

Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest LPG exporter, sees its production rising to 25 million tonnes a year by 2009, from 20 million tonnes last year.
It expects Qatar and Abu Dhabi to add four to five million tonnes per year of production by around 2010 with higher natural gas output, Ahmed A Al-Fuhaid, marketing manager at Saudi Aramco, said.
Such growth has built a consensus among traders that there will be more spot Middle East LPG cargoes traded at discounts to the monthly contract prices set by Aramco, which serve as a benchmark, but Al-Fuhaid said that might not be the case.
'Yes there will be a build in production, but there is definitely a home for it,' said Al Fuhaid. '(Natural gas) producers need to inject LPG to boost their gas production, and they need to use more LPG to cover supply shortages for LNG.'
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry sources are concerned that Asia will suffer from LNG supply shortages around 2008 as rising production in the Middle East may not be sufficient to cover a decline in Indonesian gas output and growth in consumption, especially in China.
Al Fuhaid said domestic LPG consumption in Saudi Arabia is expected to rise to 19 million tonnes a year, compared with 8 million tonnes in 2006, halving its export availability to 6 million tonnes a year.
'As a state-run company, we must give priority to local demand,' he said.
Industry consultancy Purvin & Gertz said in a recent report that a significant world LPG supply build is underway, with strong annual increases in global LPG supplies expected through 2010.
The consultancy suggested that Middle East exports rose to near 30 million tonnes in 2006, and would rise to near 40 million tonnes between 2008 and 2012.