Saudi Arabia announces major gas discovery at Jufurah field

Saudi Arabia announced a major gas discovery on Sunday at the state oil company Aramco's Jufurah field.

Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said an additional 15 trillion standard cubic feet of natural gas and 2 billion barrels of condensate were found in the onshore field.

"This achievement was the result of applying the highest international standards in estimating and developing hydrocarbon resources to ensure their proper exploitation," he added in a statement.

Reserves at Jufurah have reached 229 trillion cubic feet of gas and 75 billion barrels of condensates, Prince Abdulaziz said.

The Jufurah unconventional field lies south-east of the Ghawar oilfield in the kingdom's Eastern Province. Unconventional resources refer to those that require advanced extraction methods.

The field covers an area of 17,000 square kilometers. The production of natural gas at Jufurah is expected to increase to 2 billion standard cubic feet per day (scfd) of shale gas by 2030, from 200 million scfd in 2025, with 418 million scfd of ethane and around 630,000 barrels per day of gas liquids and condensates.