Saudi Aramco has produced more than 65 billion barrels of oil from the world's largest oilfield, Ghawar, a top executive said. The field has been pumping since 1951. “Ghawar's original reserves are over 100 billion barrels. Ghawar is still going strong, we are pampering Ghawar...we can sustain production for many years to come,” Saad Turaiki, vice president of Southern Area Oil Operations, said on Wednesday. Aramco is pumping more than 5 million barrels per day (bpd) from the giant field, more than half of its 8 to 8.5 million bpd crude production, Turaiki said. The five discovery wells at Ghawar, have produced more than 350 million (bpd) and are still producing today at a combined rate of 6,000 bpd, Turaiki said at a conference. Proponents of the theory that global oil output is at or near its peak have said Saudi reserves may be less than stated and that fields like Ghawar may be under strain. Aramco plans to inject 40 million standard cubic feet per day (cfd) of carbon dioxide into the field. Carbon capture and storage is looked upon favorably by oil producers as they need to inject gas into oilfields anyway to maintain oil pressure. If they can use CO2 instead of natural gas, they can send the natural gas to local grids where it can be used by industry or in power plants. In 1959, it injected gas for 20 years in one of the fields' areas Ain Dar to sustain the reservoir pressure. It then injected water in 1964 to maximize recovery at the field, Turaiki said at the conference. “Saudi Aramco is not sparing any efforts to sustain production at Ghawar,” he told Reuters. “We are not doing our pilot CO2 project because the field is depleting, water injection is enough,” he told Reuters. The project would be implemented in Uthmaniyah, one of the field's areas, and will start in 2013, Turaiki said. A government official said in February the project would be launched by 2012. “We are doing it to quantify how much reserves we can recover and for the environment,” said Turaiki. The Kingdom's raw gas production stands at nearly 10 billion cubic feet per day (cfd), Turaiki said. Conventional approaches had yielded marginal results for tight gas, Turaiki said but the new multi-stage fracturing of horizontal wells has resulted in increasing the rates dramatically. “In 2009 with new technology, we had a post-fracturation rate of 35 million scfd out of a well that was making a very low rate,” Turaiki added. Oil prices fell on Thursday, dropping further away from recent 18-month highs as traders tracked lower stock markets, the strengthening dollar and growing US crude inventories. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, ended the day down 46 cents to $85.39 a barrel, after spiking above $87 on Tuesday. London's Brent North Sea crude for May fell 70 cents to $84.89. Oil prices took a hit in early New York trade as equities sank and the dollar rose. The stronger dollar makes dollar-priced oil more expensive for buyers using weaker currencies and therefore tends to dent demand.“Crude and products futures are retreating ... as the dollar continued to move higher and global equities slipped,” said analyst Addison Armstrong at US-based Tradition Energy. European shares tumbled Thursday as investors tracked heightened worries about the Greek debt crisis while the euro zone and Britain held interest rates unchanged at record lows. Prices also took a hit from the strong dollar, which makes dollar-priced oil more expensive for buyers using weaker currencies and therefore tends to dent demand. The European single currency sank deeper against the dollar on Thursday amid persistent fears about Greece's ability to overcome a massive debt crisis. “Oil prices, pressured by a strong dollar and high US crude stocks, continue to decline for the second day,” PVM analysts said in a note to clients. Crude fell on Wednesday as traders reacted to rising US crude inventories.
