Saudi Aramco oil reserves slip, gas rise

Riyadh : Saudi Aramco said yesterday its recoverable crude oil and condensate reserves slipped to 260.8 billion barrels at the end of 2016 but its daily crude oil production hit a new record of 10.5 million barrels per day.

Aramco’s reserves stood at 261.1bn in 2015.

Its gas reserves rose to 298.7 trillion standard cubic feet from 297.6tn, Saudi Aramco said in its 2016 annual review.

The company said it had discovered two new oilfields, Jubah and Sahaban, and one new gas field, Hadidah, all located in the Eastern Province, the main oil region in Saudi Arabia, the world’s top crude exporter.

Saudi Arabia’s national oil company plans to list a stake through an initial public offering in 2018 which is expected to be the world’s biggest IPO.

The review did not make a reference to updates on the IPO process, which is at the heart of Saudi Arabia’s economic transformation program.

“For Saudi Aramco, the most notable feature of the Kingdom’s transformation will be the future offering of part of the company’s shares in local and international stock markets,” said Khalid al-Falih chairman of Aramco and Saudi energy minister.

Aramco, which has exclusive rights to explore and develop Saudi Arabia’s oil and gas, boosted oil production to a new record of 10.5m barrels per day (bpd) in 2016, from 10.2m bpd in 2015, it said in the review.

Its oil exports rose to 7.6m bpd in 2016 from 7.1m bpd in 2015. Asia still accounts for the lion’s share of Saudi Aramco’s exports at 66 per cent, up from 65pc in 2015, followed by exports to the United States, whose share dropped to 15.8pc from 16.6pc in 2015.