Aramco to invest $300 billion over next decade

July 11, 2017
Saudi Aramco will invest more than $300 billion on oil and gas projects during the next decade, the company’s president and chief executive officer said while warning of lagging investment elsewhere.

Saudi Aramco will invest more than $300 billion on oil and gas projects during the next decade, the company’s president and chief executive officer said while warning of lagging investment elsewhere.

Amin H. Nasser told the World Petroleum Congress in Istanbul that Aramco’s aim is “to reinforce our preeminent position in oil, maintain our spare oil production capacity, and pursue a large exploration and production program centering on conventional and unconventional gas reserves.”

Aramco, Nasser said, plans to double production of natural gas to 23 bscfd as part of an effort to lower greenhouse-gas emissions. The push also includes participation with automobile manufacturers to develop “ultraclean engine-fuels systems of the future” and with other oil and gas companies to promote low-emission technologies.

Although a global transition to nonhydrocarbon energy is under way, Nasser said, “It still takes a long time for new fuels to seize market share from legacy fuels.”

Even as traditional fuels begin to lose market share, he added, “history tells us that absolute demand for them continues to rise significantly for long periods of time.”

Nasser said that the current oil-industry slump has canceled investments totaling about $1 trillion and that 20 million b/d of new oil production is needed to offset depletion and meet demand growth.

Yet investors are reluctant to risk capital on large investments in exploration, long-term development, and infrastructure.

“Investments in smaller increments such as shale oil just will not cut it,” Nasser said. “Without those higher investment levels, the energy transition—and therefore energy security—may be fatally compromised.”