NEW YORK/SINGAPORE: Saudi Arabia has called on oilfield service firms to expand the Kingdom's oil rig count by nearly 30 percent, according to Simmons & Co, to ensure spare production capacity remains. Aramco met with leading oil service companies including Halliburton over the weekend, unveiling plans to boost the country's rig count this year and next to 118, from around 92 now, Simmons & Co analyst Bill Herbert said Monday. "The risk premium in the Middle East has risen. Also, with Libyan production falling, Saudi Arabia may feel it has to be ready for higher production capacity," Herbert said from Houston in a phone interview. Plans to boost the rig count show that the Kingdom is stepping up investment. "For this year, the majority of new wells to be drilled is for maintaining existing capacity," said Siamak Adibi, senior consultant at FACTS Global Energy in Singapore. Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi has outlined plans to boost the Kingdom's crude oil production capacity. Aramco is undertaking the Moneefa project, with a planned start-up by June 2013 at 500,000 bpd and a ramp-up to 900,000 bpd by 2024. Halliburton said late Monday that it would accelerate activity at Moneefa, a project to tap massive offshore heavy crude reserves. In 2008, the company was awarded a contract to provide drilling and associated work at 93 Moneefa wells off northeast Saudi Arabia. The plans are "manifestly positive" for oil service companies, Herbert said. Their shares soared Monday. Halliburton rose 4 percent to $47.90 on the New York Stock Exchange after touching a 52-week high. Shares in Schlumberger also rose more than 4 percent, while Baker Hughes rose 3.8 percent.
