VZCZCXRO6355
PP RUEHDE
DE RUEHDH #0299/01 3621225
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P R 281225Z DEC 09
FM AMCONSUL DHAHRAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0342
INFO RHMFISS/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
RUEHHH/OPEC COLLECTIVE
RUEHDH/AMCONSUL DHAHRAN 0453

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DHAHRAN 000299 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EEB/ESC/IEC, NEA/ARP, AND S/CIEA 
DOE FOR ELKIND,HEGBURG,PERSON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EPET ENRG ECON PGOV SA
SUBJECT: MAJOR SAUDI OFFSHORE MANIFA FIELD COMPLETION DELAYED TWO 
YEARS TO 2013; WASSIT GAS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM CONTINUES 
 
REF: RIYADH 958 
 
DHAHRAN 00000299  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
SUMMARY 
 
------- 
 
 
 
¶1. (U) Citing weak global demand, Saudi Aramco pushed back the 
tentative completion date of the last giant Saudi oilfield in 
its expansion plans by at least two years.  Meanwhile, Saudi 
Arabia is expected to announce its final plans to build the 
Kingdom's largest gas plant ever whose purpose is to supply 
domestic utilities and some industries.  Saudi Aramco is 
pursuing practical carbon management by launching a pilot Carbon 
Capture and Sequestration (CCS) project expected to come on line 
in 2013, and is also looking into using CO2 for enhanced oil 
recovery.  End Summary. 
 
 
 
Manifa Completion Delayed Two Years 
 
----------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶2. (U) Saudi Aramco pushed back the tentative completion date of 
the last giant Saudi oilfield in its expansion plans by at least 
two years.  The Manifa Arabian heavy crude program is an 
offshore oil production development.  Widely considered to be 
the largest single offshore crude oil project in Saudi Aramco's 
history, Manifa will comprise 27 man-made islands connected by 
41 km of causeway.  Previously due to come online by 2011, the 
900,000 barrels per day Manifa project is now expected to come 
online in 2013 (to include 90,000 million cubic feet/day of 
associated gas and 65,000 bpd of condensate).  Saudi Aramco has 
previously noted that Manifa is intended to compensate for 
declining output in other fields and not as a means to boost 
capacity.  Press reports quote Aramco CEO Khalid al-Falih as 
saying that Manifa will begin production in 2013 and will be 
completed, at full output, in 2015. 
 
 
 
¶3. (U) The price tag for Manifa has increased significantly from 
an earlier 2009 estimate totaling $7 billion.  Saudi Aramco 
places the cost of developing the Manifa heavy crude field at 
nearly $16 billion, about the same as before last year's drop in 
construction costs.  Saudi Aramco made the investment decision 
on Manifa, said Saudi Aramco CEO Khalid Al-Falih, when oil 
prices were above $70/bbl and demand prospects were strong. 
After prices tumbled to around $35/bbl, he added in a December 7 
speech, "costs did not proportionally decrease, clouding the 
robustness of the investment."   Al-Falih told reporters on 
December 12 that weak global demand is the reason Aramco delayed 
the Manifa heavy-oil field development. 
 
 
 
¶4. (U) Also included in the project is the construction of four 
on- and offshore pipeline networks, plus a water supply system 
intended by Aramco to inject around 1.35 million barrels of 
aquifer water daily into the oil reservoir in order to maintain 
the required pressure for optimum crude oil production.  Much of 
the heavy crude oil will be shipped to a new refinery due to be 
built across the Arabian Peninsula in Yanbu, on the Red Sea 
north of Jeddah (a joint venture of Saudi Aramco and 
ConocoPhillips).  Reuters reports that Aramco and ConocoPhillips 
have brought forward the deadline to January 26 for bids to 
build the 400,000 bpd oil refinery that is intended to produce 
ultra-low sulfur oil for the U.S. market (reftel). 
 
 
 
WGDP Gas Development Megaproject Continues 
 
------------------------------------------ 
 
 
 
¶5. (U) The CEO of Saudi Aramco, Khalid al-Falih, said in 
November 2009 that Saudi Arabia would soon announce its final 
plans to build the Kingdom's largest gas plant ever to supply 
domestic utilities and some industries.  However, nearly one 
month later, Saudi Aramco has provided few additional public 
details regarding the new Wasit Gas Development Program (WGDP) 
which is expected to process more than 1.8 billion cubic feet 
per day (cfd) of gas.  SNC-Lavalin, a leading engineering and 
 
DHAHRAN 00000299  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
construction group headquartered in Canada, announced in 
September that it was awarded the front-end engineering and 
design (FEED) and project services contracts by Saudi Aramco. 
According to SNC-Lavalin press releases, the WGDP will provide 
for the production and processing of up to 2.5 billion cfd of 
gas from Aribiyah and Hasbah offshore non-associated sour gas 
fields to meet future Saudi demand.  The contract is for 5 years 
and was expected to begin by October 1, 2009. 
 
 
 
¶6. (U) The WGDP is split into several projects that include 
building gas processing facilities, two offshore gas platforms, 
one tie-in platform, as well as subsea power and communication 
links and pipelines.  Supplies from the gas plant will not be 
used as feedstock for the growing petrochemical sector.  Saudi 
Arabia is short of gas to meet demand for power and desalination 
plants and industry, as energy consumption has risen 
considerably in recent years.  Some estimates place KSA gas 
demand growth at 7 percent per annum. 
 
 
 
Environment:  Carbon Capture and Sequestration 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
 
 
¶7. (U) Saudi Aramco is developing a pilot Carbon Capture and 
Sequestration (CCS) project expected to come on line in 2013, 
and is also looking into using CO2 for enhanced oil recovery. 
Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told Energy Ministers at an October 
CCS summit in London that a CO2 demonstration project is planned 
for 2013 and is expected to inject 40 million standard cubic 
feet per day of CO2 in an area already flooded by water in 
Ghawar, the world's largest oil field.  Efforts in this field 
are nascent, but Saudi Aramco's Chief Petroleum Engineer 
recently stressed the importance of practical carbon management 
at a presentation to Deputy Secretary of Energy Poneman during 
his December visit to KSA.  Consulate General Dhahran will 
continue tracking Aramco developments in this field. 
CG: JKENNY