Saudi Arabia sets ambitious gas production target.. Will it surpass the world’s largest blue fuel producers?

Energy market expert Ivan Timonin believes that the Kingdom is unlikely to overtake the world’s largest gas producers, saying: “Taking into account that gas production has been stagnant over the past five years, this target can be considered very ambitious and cannot be compared to the level of production of the major (blue fuel) producing countries.”

About a month ago, Saudi Aramco signed contracts worth more than $25 billion to expand gas projects, including the development of the second phase of the Jafurah gas field, which is one of the largest fields in the world, with proven reserves of about 6.5 trillion cubic meters of gas.

Riyadh aims to increase gas production by more than 60% by 2030 compared to 2021 levels. Saudi Arabia’s gas production last year, 2023, amounted to nearly 114 billion cubic meters, while it intends to increase it to more than 180 billion cubic meters by 2030.

In contrast, the United States, which is ranked as the largest producer of blue fuel in the world, produced about one trillion cubic meters of gas last year, 2023, representing 25.5% of the world’s total gas production.

While Russia, which ranks second in the list of major gas producers, produced 586.4 billion cubic meters, with a share of 14.4% of global production, according to data from the Energy Institute.

While Iran, which came in third place, produced more than 250 billion cubic meters of gas, Saudi Arabia came in seventh place with a production of 114 billion cubic meters, with a share of 2.8% of global gas production.

Source: Novosti