Aramco marks a major milestone by successfully extracting first unconventional Tight Gas from the South Ghawar Reservoir

November 14, 2023 - Aramco, one of the world’s leading integrated energy and chemicals companies, has successfully produced the first unconventional tight gas from its South Ghawar operational area two months ahead of schedule. This development supports Aramco’s strategy to increase gas production by more than half, over 2021 levels, through 2030, subject to domestic demand. Commissioned facilities at South Ghawar have a 300 million standard cubic feet per day (scfd) of raw gas processing capacity and 38,000 barrels per day (bpd) of condensate processing capacity. In response to growing demand for gas, the company will continue its work to more than double the overall processing capacity in order to achieve South Ghawar’s strategic goal of delivering 750 million scfd of raw gas in the near future.Successful production of tight sand gas at South Ghawar represents Aramco’s second unconventional gas stream, after production commenced at the North Arabia field in 2018 with the delivery of 240 million scfd to customers in Wa’ad Al-Shamal. Work is simultaneously progressing at the giant Jafurah unconventional gas field, which is the largest liquid-rich shale gas play in the Middle East.Unconventional gas resources — often called tight gas or shale gas — are becoming increasingly important as both global and domestic energy demand continues to grow. We are exploring, running pilot projects, and putting in place the infrastructure required to access new unconventional reserves in fields such as North Arabia, South Ghawar, and Jafurah.