Saudi Aramco on target to add more oil capacity despite challenges

JEDDAH: Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said that his company is working on increasing its crude production capacity even as investments in the oil industry are falling down and the company is challenged with reducing carbon emissions, Arab News reported.

It will take until 2027 for Saudi Aramco to increase its capacity from 12 million barrels/day to 13 million barrels. “It will not happen overnight,” Nasser said.

“It takes years, two to three years between front-end engineering and then construction will also take another three to four years,” he said.

“We are doing our share in terms of building (capacity) even though we have adequate spare capacity today. We are bringing additional supplies to the market, while we’re working on reducing our emissions at the same time,” Nasser said.

Nasser is bullish on oil demand next year, as he sees the demand for oil “very healthy”.

The CEO of the world’s largest oil producer said that the oil demand will hit 99 million barrels/day by the end of 2021 and it may jump over 100 million barrels next year, he told the Energy Intelligence Forum.

“The forecast for [the] next year will be over a hundred million barrels. So overall the demand is very healthy,” he said.

Oil prices are trading around $80 and Nasser attributed this to the increase in the demand. There are several factors that affect the supply in the market. One of the main factors, the Aramco chief said, is investment cuts in the oil industry.

Nasser said that the transition to other energy resources is important but it has to be done in an orderly fashion.

“We are doing our best to reduce CO2 emissions but the market needs to develop first. We are focusing on CCUS, conversion of CO2 to other products, hydrogen,” he added.