Saudi Aramco Found More Oil Than It Produced in 2006

by Oliver Klaus
Feb 28, 2007

DUBAI - Saudi Arabian Oil Co., the world's largest oil company by production, discovered 3.6 billion barrels of crude oil reserves last year, 6% more than it produced, the Saudi Press Agency reported Wednesday.

Saudi Aramco also added 10.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas to its reserves in 2006, more than expected, Chief Executive Abdullah Jumah said at the company's board meeting in Dhahran, according to SPA.

Saudi Arabia holds the world's largest oil reserves at 264.2 billion bbl and the world's fourth largest gas reserves at 243.6 trillion cubic feet, according to the BP Statistical Review 2006.

Aramco's installed oil production capacity increased to 10.7 million barrels a day by the end of 2006, SPA reported Jumah as saying.

The figure doesn't include oil production from the partitioned neutral zone shared between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

The capacity addition of 300,000 b/d came from the completion of Aramco's Haradh field increment last year.

Aramco also continues to carry out work on 52 projects, Jumah said, according to SPA.

© 2007 Dow Jones Newswires.