Saudi Aramco does not expect its giant 900,000 barrels per day Moneefa project to pump at full volume until January 2024. The start-up date for the project of 2013 was unchanged. Aramco had previously said that the Moneefa development would be completed in 2015. The offshore Moneefa increment is scheduled to begin production of 500,000 barrels per day of Arabian Heavy crude oil by June 2013 and will ultimately produce 900,000 barrels per day by January 2024. Aramco is undertaking the Moneefa project, with a price tag close to $16 billion to compensate for declines at other fields rather than to boost capacity. Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi said he believed Saudi capacity of 12.5 million barrel per day would be enough to supply the global oil market until 2020 and still leave the Kingdom with the 1.5 million barrels per day to 2 million barrels per day of spare capacity it aims to keep.
