Saudi Arabia Vows To Maintain Its Status As An Oil Giant

Authored by Tsvetana Paraskova via OilPrice.com,

• Saudi Arabia aims to maintain its position as a major oil producer, ensuring global energy security.

• The country plans to increase its oil production capacity by 1.1 million bpd by 2027.

• Simultaneously, Saudi Arabia is committed to its renewable energy goals, targeting 44 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030.

As Saudi Arabia prepares to tender 44 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy projects, it will continue to maintain its oil-producing potential to ensure global energy security, officials from the Kingdom said at the annual investment forum in Riyadh on Tuesday.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude oil exporter, will keep its maximum sustainable capacity of 12.3 million barrels per day (bpd) going forward.

By 2027, the Kingdom will have more than 1.1 million bpd of production of oilfields currently under development, which are expected to offset the natural decline of legacy fields.

Saudi Aramco, the state oil giant, plans to boost the production capacity of its Marjan, Berri, and Zuluf oilfields and add more supply from the Dammam crude oil development in 2027, according to a presentation at the Future Investment Initiative summit in Riyadh.

At the same time, Saudi Arabia plans to have tendered a total of 44 GW of renewable energy projects by the end of this year.

By 2030, it expects to have 130 GW of renewable energy projects, based on demand growth.

Even with the ambitious program to boost renewables and power grids, Saudi Arabia is not abandoning its pre-eminence in the global oil markets.

While the world is moving towards an energy transition, all forms of energy would be absolutely needed to ensure global energy security, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister, Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman, said at the forum, as quoted by Amena Bakr, Senior Research Analyst at Energy Intelligence.

The Kingdom will “continue monetizing its energy resources while attending to climate change,” said the Saudi minister, the most influential minister in OPEC and OPEC+.

Earlier this month, Saudi Aramco’s chief executive Amin Nasser called for what he dubbed a reset in the transition plans for developing countries, citing strong projected growth in oil demand for the Global South.