By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, June 4 -- ExxonMobil Corp. has been named operator of the second of three Saudi Arabian natural gas exploration and development projects. It said that Core Venture 1 and Core Venture 2 account for a total industry investment of more than $20 billion.
ExxonMobil previously was named operator for Core Venture 2, on Saudi Arabia's northwestern coast along the Red Sea. Other participants in that venture are Enron Corp. and Occidental Petroleum Corp.
On Monday, ExxonMobil said it was named operator for Core Venture 1, the largest of the three projects. Core Venture 1 is in the Rub' al Khali area in the kingdom's eastern province.
Other participants are Royal Dutch/Shell Group, BP PLC, and Phillips Petroleum Co.
ExxonMobil also announced it signed preparatory agreements for both core ventures, allowing it, along with the other international oil companies and the Saudi government, to progress to the project definition phase.
Core Venture 1 will significantly expand the kingdom's gas, power, water desalination, and petrochemical infrastructure and provide for exploration and development of gas resources.
The project includes up to 4,000 Mw of power generation capacity integrated with water desalination, and two petrochemical facilities, one each on Saudi Arabia's east and west coasts.
Work in the project definition phase will outline the technical scope of each core venture along with the commercial, legal, financial, and regulatory regimes that will govern them.
ExxonMobil is the largest foreign investor in the kingdom at more than $5 billion. Existing facilities include two petrochemical joint ventures with Sabic, Yanpet, and Kemya, and the Samref refinery, a joint venture with Saudi Aramco.