TABUK – Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi has emphasized the government's policy of continuous exploration, development and production of natural gas in all regions of the Kingdom. “In line with the directives of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, we are going ahead with these endeavors so as to use gas instead of crude oil in the generation of electricity; and by this we can keep oil reserves for export as well as for our future generations,” he said. Naimi was speaking to reporters at the end of an inspection tour to petroleum and gas exploration sites in the Tabuk region Sunday. The minister's inspection tour covered new oil installations in the region, including Saudi Aramco's special drilling site for explorations that was constructed recently in cooperation with the Saudi Ports Authority, Duba port, and Duba plant for stocking and distribution of petroleum products. He was also briefed on one of the deep water exploration and drilling sites in the Red Sea. Speaking to the Saudi Press Agency, Naimi said that the Tabuk region, with its sea waters, sits on huge reserves of petroleum and natural gas resources that could be used for commercial purposes. “We have discovered gas at Madyan field and recently managed to double its reserves. We are now developing the field to supply natural gas to run electricity power plants hitherto operated by oil in the region.” Naimi said that natural gas was discovered at Shaour well (1) in Red Sea waters late last year. “We will undertake more drilling work to ascertain the area and borders of this well. Saudi Aramco is also carrying out drilling work at two new wells – Huraid well, located in the shallow waters of the Red Sea in northwest of Duba city, and Duba well, situated opposite the city,” he said, adding, “For the first time in the 80-year history of Saudi Aramco, it started using advanced drillship, which is designed to carry out exploration work for oil and natural gas in deep sea waters.” – SG
