據天然氣加工新聞網2022年1月25日利雅得報道，2020年，沙特阿拉伯的干氣日產量首次達到了110億立方英尺，比2010年增長了30%。 2016年12月歐佩克+協議的減產導致沙特阿拉伯的伴生天然氣產量減少(伴生天然氣是石油生產的副產品)。 然而，由于開發了非伴生或單獨的天然氣田，沙特阿拉伯的天然氣總產量在過去20年里穩步增長。

沙特阿拉伯非伴生氣田的天然氣產量從2000年的零增加到2020年占總產量的46%。 2016年，沙特阿拉伯國家石油公司(沙特阿美)開始優先開發主要位于海上的非伴生氣田。  

沙特阿美的戰略包括開發更多非伴生天然氣(包括非常規資源)的計劃，并進一步擴大現有油田附近的新儲層和新發現的天然氣儲量，以幫助滿足國內日益增長的需求。 截至2021年1月，沙特阿拉伯已探明天然氣儲量總計333萬億立方英尺，包括與科威特共同擁有的“中立區”。 2020年，沙特阿拉伯是僅次于俄羅斯、卡塔爾、美國和土庫曼斯坦等的世界第6大天然氣生產國。

2021年底，沙特阿美向能源公司授予合同，開發本國最大的非常規氣田賈富拉氣田，該氣田位于波斯灣附近的世界最大油田蓋瓦爾油田以東。沙特阿美預計賈富拉項目將于2025年開始生產天然氣。 沙特阿美預計，到2030年，賈富拉項目的最大天然氣日產能將為20億立方英尺干氣、4.18億立方英尺的乙烷和63萬桶的凝析油。  

沙特阿拉伯不進口或出口天然氣，但預計到2030年前開始出口天然氣。 沙特阿拉伯政府也計劃到2030年前用天然氣和可再生能源替代原油、燃料油和柴油來發電，這可能會增加國內天然氣需求。 在電力行業用天然氣發電取代原油發電，可能會使沙特阿拉伯有更多的原油可供出口。  

沙特阿拉伯擁有廣泛的天然氣基礎設施，可以捕獲、處理和運輸天然氣到該國的需求中心。 然而，西部和南部地區缺乏來自東部氣田的充足的天然管道能力，而東部氣田是沙特阿拉伯大部分石油生產的所在地。 沙特阿美計劃將其西南海岸的天然氣管道的日輸氣能力從96億立方英尺擴大到125億立方英尺，但沙特阿美尚未宣布完工日期。  

李峻 編譯自 天然氣加工新聞網

原文如下：

Saudi Arabia’s natgas production seeing new growth

Saudi Arabia’s dry natural gas production reached an average of 11 Bft3d for the first time in 2020, a 30% increase from 2010. Oil production cuts related to the December 2016 OPEC+ agreement have reduced Saudi Arabia’s associated natural gas production (natural gas produced as a by-product of oil production). However, the country’s total natural gas output has steadily grown over the past two decades because of the development of non-associated, or stand-alone, natural gas fields. 

Natural gas produced from non-associated gas fields in Saudi Arabia increased from nothing in 2000 to 46% of total production in 2020. In 2016, Saudi Aramco, the national oil company, began to prioritize the development of non-associated gas fields, located mostly offshore. 

Saudi Aramco’s strategy includes plans to develop more non-associated natural gas, including unconventional resources, and to further expand natural gas reserves with new reservoirs near existing fields and new discoveries to help meet growing domestic demand. Saudi Arabia’s proved natural gas reserves totaled 333 Tft3 as of January 2021, including those in an area shared with Kuwait known as the Neutral Zone. Saudi Arabia was the sixth-largest natural gas producer in the world behind Russia, Qatar, the U.S., and Turkmenistan in 2020. 

At the end of 2021, Saudi Aramco awarded contracts to energy companies to develop the country’s largest unconventional field, Jafurah, located to the east of Ghawar oil field near the Persian Gulf. The company expects the Jafurah project to begin production in 2025. Saudi Aramco expects that by 2030, the project will have a maximum capacity of 2 Bft3d of dry natural gas, 418 MMft3d of ethane, and 630,000 bpd of condensate. 

Saudi Arabia does not import or export natural gas, but it expects to begin exporting natural gas by 2030. The government of Saudi Arabia also plans to replace its crude oil, fuel oil, and diesel-powered electric generators with natural gas and renewable energy generation by 2030, which will likely increase domestic natural gas demand. Replacing crude oil with natural gas-fired generation in the electric power sector could make more crude oil in Saudi Arabia available for export. 

Saudi Arabia has extensive natural gas infrastructure that can capture, process, and transport natural gas to the country’s demand centers. However, the western and southern regions lack sufficient natural pipeline capacity from the eastern fields, where most of the country’s production is located. Saudi Aramco intends to expand its natural gas pipeline capacity along the southwest coast of the country from 9.6 Bft3d to 12.5 Bft3d, but it has not announced a completion date yet.