Saudi Arabia: LNG ahead
In a reversal of strategy, Saudi Aramco is planning to import natural gas, and maintain current crude oil capacity
For decades, Saudi Arabia insisted that it wouldn't seek natural gas from abroad to boost the volumes produced within the kingdom—in particular it was a firm tenet of former oil minister Ali al-Naimi during his 21 years in the job that there'd be no imports. Now, that strategy has been abandoned. The search is on for a suitable source of liquefied natural gas. Aramco's chief executive Amin Nasser, in an interview with Petroleum Economist [to be published in the December/January issue], said the kingdom's plan for the coming decade was to increase the share of domestically produced natural gas in the energy mix from 50% to 70%. But it wanted to supplement these volumes with imports. "We're lo
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