Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Aramco signed $4.5 billion agreements with companies from Europe, China, the UAE, and the US to develop some projects of oil and gas, aiming to raise gas production, Reuters on Thursday reported.

“By freeing up more oil for export, gas projects will increase supplies to energy utilities and as feedstock for the petrochemical industry. Aramco has plans to double its gas output to 23 billion standard cubic feet per day,” the agency added.

The Spanish engineering firm, Tecnicas Reunidas will establish gas compression plants for Hawiyah and Haradh fields that will extend plateau production for both fields for the coming 20 years, the largest oil company said.

The project by the Spanish company will increase Aramco’s gas production capacity by 1.3 billion standard cubic feet on a daily basis.

“Italy’s Saipem has won a deal estimated to be worth around $700 million to expand capacity at the Hawiyah gas processing plant, which is due to have a total capacity of 3.86 billion scfd by June 2021, when the new work is due to be completed,” Reuters noted.

In the meantime, the transaction with China Petroleum Pipelines include that the firm will lay 450 kilometres of gas pipelines by early 2019 to take 290 million scfd of gas from Haradh field to Hawiyah processing plant.

“The U.S. company Jacobs Engineering has been awarded preliminary engineering and project management services agreement for a new processing plant to handle 600,000 barrels per day of heavy crude production from the giant Zuluf field in the northeast of the Gulf,” the statement concluded.